Why only 8 horsepower can achieve highway speeds

7/23/26:

Well, I'll be. I forgot all about this one. Whatever happened to them? Let's ask Brave AI! The answer:

The Urbee, a fuel-efficient car prototype designed by Jim Kor and manufactured using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printing technology, has seen its development evolve from the original 2010 model to the Urbee 2.

After the initial prototype garnered attention for its potential to achieve extreme fuel efficiency (up to 290 miles per gallon) using renewable ethanol and batteries, the project focused on the second iteration, Urbee 2. This model, weighing only 1,200 lbs and equipped with a 10-horsepower hybrid engine, was developed by KOR Ecologic with the goal of breaking a Guinness World Record for fuel efficiency by traveling from San Francisco to New York on just 10 liters of ethanol.

While the Urbee 2 represented a significant engineering milestone as the first road-ready 3D-printed car, the project faced financial hurdles. Despite securing sponsors and completing significant R&D, the company cited a lack of sufficient capital to fully develop and mass-produce the vehicle, leaving it as a prototype rather than a commercially available consumer product.

11/8/13:

That post about the Urbee may raise some eyebrows.  He has a 8 hp internal combustion engine.  How in the world can something that small achieve highway speeds?

It takes only about 20 hp to keep a much heavier car at highway speeds.  That heavier car wasn't built to be as aerodynamic as the Urbee.  It's all a matter of physics.  You don't need that much energy to cruise, just need it to accelerate.  The energy needed for cruising is kept down by the reduction in friction and weight.  It's a big drop from 20 hp to 8, but it is also a big drop in weight and drag.

He will need more horses to accelerate, but he can combine the two engines (it is a hybrid) for that.  With the lighter weight of the vehicle, he won't need as many horses to get up to speed, nor many horses to keep that speed.

So, I believe Kor's claims.

He has a Kickstarter campaign in effect.  I put that on the sidebar to express my support.  He has a modest goal, but frankly, he should be getting much more support than this, and the goals should be much bigger.

Update:

I'm in.  I will back this project.  This reminds me, I backed the Thorium thing that McDowell did too.  He didn't finish the project, it appears.  But there is this website with all the videos he has made.  I recommend this one.

Update:

I had to create a new account for Kickstarter.  Or I thought I did.  Anyway, I have backed 3 other campaigns, and this is number 4.  Here's the backer page for the Thorium remix.

edited to include the backed projects