The “Break it Down” Blog

Red Light Racing (site currently down) has a story about two mechanics in Maryland that did a custom modification to a standard Honda Insight hybrid gasoline-electric car by replacing the gasoline motor with a diesel motor. Out of the box the default Honda Insight is rated at 40mpg city, 43mpg highway.

During an 1,800-mile road trip to test the customization out, they averaged 92mpg, with a minimum of 72mpg through a hilly patch of country road.

The guys have documented the entire process, and claim that the electrical subsystem wasn’t completely functional for the trip, expecting somewhere around 100mpg easily if it had been.

In a wonderful closing note, they mention:

If we can do it I don’t see any reason why major auto manufacturers can’t do it since we used their parts.

Yes… indeed. Can anyone figure out how people were modding Toyota Prius’s more than a year ago (and Honda’s almost 5 years ago) to get 100mpg and the car manufacturers still can’t seem to mass-produce a vehicle that can pull that off?

<sarcasm>I bet it’s a technological hurdle… oh wait.</sarcasm>

Thanks Slashdot!