PROVO, Utah -- A team of electricians, engineers and builders at Brigham Young University have made a supermileage car capable of getting more than 1,700 miles to the gallon.
Cory Newton of the BYU Supermileage Team said their top speed in the vehicle is only about 15 mph, but he said the car has strengths other than speed.
“Our record now at BYU is 1,716 miles per gallon,” he said.
Newton said nine students coordinated on the project.
“From the ground up, we built everything,” he said. "...our main and single goal is to get high gas mileage, and so anything we can do to increase gas mileage, may it be the aerodynamics, or the engine efficiency, or low rolling resistance: We build our car to that spec.”
BYU’s team placed first and fifth in two national competitions. Jerry Bowman is the coach of the Supermileage Team, and he said every detail must be considered to achieve such results, including the driver.
"I was the shortest, I was the lightest, so I got the job,” said Tyson Grig of his appointment to driver of the supermileage vehicle.
Bowman said the project is something the students can be proud of.
“When they go out and apply for a job, they'll have this on their resume, and somebody interviewing them for a job will say, 'You built a car that gets 1,700 miles per gallon?' They're going to be impressed by that,” he said.
