If you’ve been following the XPrize, you’ve probably heard about Doug Pelmear and his HP2g engine. According to many press reports, the engine is a normal V-8 engine that burns E85 ethanol and can either produce 400 HP (in perfromance mode) or 110 MPG (in economy mode). When it is getting 110 MPG, the HP2g engine is doing it in a stock, non-aerodynamic, heavy, Ford Mustang body that has all the normal stuff like air conditioning and cruise control. This car even gets 110 MPG when the AC is running.

In other words, what we are being told is that we are about to see a major revolution in the automotive industry. We are about to have V-8 engines that get 110 MPG without changing anything else.

And the engine is going into production this week:

Wauseon plant to open Monday for 110-mpg car engines

The man who drove his 20-year-old Mustang from Napoleon, Ohio, to Las Vegas and back last year on 39 gallons of fuel will open his first manufacturing facility Monday to allow others to get 110 miles per gallon.

Doug Pelmear, owner of Horse Power Sales.net Inc. and Hp2G LLC, will hold an open house Monday morning in the idle 100,000-square-foot factory he has leased in Wauseon to begin manufacturing his revolutionary engine.

The 4,000+ mile trip from Toledo to Las Vegas and back got a lot of hype, to the point where the X Prize organization released this video:

So how does the engine work? Here are two interviews that try to understand how the new technology gets 110 MPG out of a V-8 engine:

Even more interesting: Today the HP2g team dropped out of the X Prize competition:

HP2G acrimoniously drops out of Auto X Prize

The stated reason for dropping out: “the changing by X PRIZE of the race date from the summer of 2009 to the summer of 2010 resulted in the race no longer fitting into the business plan and business time line for our company which is moving forward with manufacturing and marketing of the HP2g for 2010 production vehicles.” In other words, they are so sure of themselves that they are going to release this engine (and make the whole X Prize competition largely a moot point) before the X Prize competition can even be held.

This is a great story. If true, it is a story that would change the world as we know it. But this whole story does not smell right. There are test runs listed on this page that demonstrate a consistent performance in the 110 MPG ballpark. But somewhere along the line we are going to learn that this is a hoax.

Why is it a hoax? First, It has all the hallmarks of cold fusion. Second, most of the other entires in the Auto X Prize are having to jump through hoops to get to 100 MPG. Take the Aptera. It is super-aerodynamic, super light. Third, there is a “hmmm” (in the “Blink” sense) feeling to it. Here is an example of where that feeling comes from:
1) Take a normal Ford Mustang with a V-8 engine.
2) Strap it onto a flat bed truck.
3) Start the engine and let it idle.
4) Turn on the AC.
5) Get in the car.
6) Using a walkie talkie, tell the truck driver to start driving the truck at 55 MPH.
7) Sit in the idling Ford Mustang for 2 hours and travel 110 miles.

Now measure the gas consumption for the Ford Mustang. It will be about a gallon of gas, possibly more, just to idle for two hours. So the HP2g engine is claiming to be as fuel efficient as an idling V-8 engine.

More info: HP2g.com