Greasecars

Move over John Travolta, grease is taking on a whole new meaning.

While browsing the CA's website this morning, I also saw a video of Michael Strieder at German Auto Tech in West Memphis demonstrating how he uses vegetable oil for gas in his deisel engine.

Yes, vegetable oil. When Rudolf Diesel introduced his signature engine at the 1900 Paris Exposition, he said he'd designed his engine so farmers could grow their own fuel. Most diesel engines were indeed run on vegetable oil until the 1920s, when the petroleum industry promoted a gasoline byproduct as diesel fuel.

When I attended Andrew Couch's demonstration of alternative fuels a couple of weeks ago, he told me about Deep Fried Rides, the company he started before getting involved in the West Tennessee Clean Cities Coalition.

Deep Fried Rides uses the Greasecar Vegetable Oil Conversion System, which is an auxiliary fuel modification system that allows diesel vehicles to run on straight vegetable oil (SVO) in any climate. These conversions are ideally suited for people who do a lot of driving. (The vehicle must start and stop on diesel because the engine needs to be warmed up in order to heat the vegetable oil.)

The conversion costs $1850-$3600 at Deep Fried Rides. (Or you can install the kit yourself for $850-$2000.)

It requires a fair bit of time to power a vehicle with waste oil. Many people collect used oil from restaurants, which is free, but they have to filter it themselves, like Michael Strieder at German Auto Tech in West Memphis above.

Greasecar's website offers a lot of good information on collecting and filtering oil. And there are numerous YouTube videos and promotional DVDs that you can purchase.

Veggie powered cars obviously aren't for everyone, but that may not be a bad thing. With an estimated 100 million gallons of waste restaurant oil generated annually, it's only enough to replace about 0.07 percent of the 140 billion gallons of gas Americans use each year.

For straight answers to frequently asked questions, visit Car Talk.

A couple of greasecar enthusiasts/filmmakers, put together a documentary called Greasy Rider. Here's the trailer: