Hydrogen Performance Vehicles

More pics of the Scorpion here...http://www.statesman.com/ap/mediahub/media/slideshow/index.jsp?tId=110196

Ronn Motor shows off gas and hydrogen powered sports carHorseshoe Bay-based company wanted to create an environmentally friendly car to compete with Ferrari and Lamborghini.
By Simmi Aujla

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF


Wednesday, June 04, 2008

The founders of the Ronn Motor Co. showed off the company's gas-and-hydrogen-powered sports car in downtown Austin on Tuesday.

Ronn Maxwell, the company's chief executive and co-founder, and Adrian Pylypec, a vice president and fellow co-founder, explained the workings of the Scorpion, a sports car that would run on a mixture of gasoline and water, to a small group at the Four Seasons hotel. The car's core, without its shell, was also displayed.

The year-old Horseshoe Bay-based company is taking orders for the car, which will cost about $150,000 and is scheduled to be ready for customers in December.

Acura supplies the company with the car's engine and transmission, and Florida hydrogen systems company Hydrorunner Inc. designed the hydrogen unit.

Ronn's founders said they hope to create a car that competes with the quality of Ferraris and Lamborghinis. But they also want to make a product that will get better gas mileage than those cars and damage the environment less.

That's where the water comes in. A unit on the back of the car splits water molecules and mixes the hydrogen with gasoline in a combination of 40 percent hydrogen and 60 percent gasoline, Maxwell said. And although the car still needs gasoline, the hydrogen consumes the carbon waste, which reduces emissions.

A 1½-gallon tank of water on the back of the car powers the vehicle, along with gasoline, for 5,000 miles, Maxwell said.

The gasoline-hydrogen combination will give the car at least 40 miles per gallon on the highway, compared with 16 mpg for the 2008 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti and 17 mpg for the 2008 Lamborghini Gallardo coupe.

The Scorpion will have a custom race-designed chrome moly chassis, four-wheel disc brakes, 12-inch cross-drilled rotors and polished Wilwood Engineering calipers, a news release said.

The high gas mileage and low emissions are an "added benefit," Maxwell said.

The 300-horsepower car was so named because it carries its engine on the back of the car, as a scorpion carries its stinger, and because "scorpions seem to be quite prevalent in this area," Maxwell said.

Some California car companies, such as Tesla Motors Inc. and Fisker Automotive Inc., also sell environmentally friendly sports cars, said Pylypec, who worked at Dell Inc. as a regional sales manager.

But Michael Marks, executive director of the Austin Automobile Dealers Association, said he didn't know of any similar companies in Texas.