Biodiesel GM Eco-Jet Concept Car - Diesel Turbine
Diesel Piston Engines Could Be The Next big thing for performance-oriented vehicles, but what after that? The Tonight Show host Jay Leno and GM decided to skip to the year 2040 with their turbine-powered Eco-Jet. Turbine engines are extremely light and can produce a tremendous amount of power. They spin up to 70,000 rpm, but peak torque is available through 90 percent of the powerband, which eliminates the need for a transmission. Turbines can run on almost anything from gasoline to peanut oil. In this case, the Eco-Jet was built to run on B100 biodiesel. The car itself is based on an aluminum Corvette Z06 chassis, and has a carbon fiber body that is part Cadillac, part Formula One, and part fighter jet. The real oddity is the mid-mounted Honeywell LT-101 turbine engine, which weighs just a couple hundred pounds, but produces 650 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque. With a target vehicle weight of only 2,400 lbs, the Eco-Jet should be able to run the quarter-mile in the high 10-second range, have a top speed of over 200 mph, and be capable of over 1.0G on a skidpad. Oh, and did we mention it runs on diesel?

Photo Gallery: GM EcoJet - Biodiesel Turbine Engine - Diesel Power Magazine



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