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BBC Science Team Builds Coffee Fueled Car... The Carpuccino

BBC Science Team Builds Coffee Fueled Car... The Carpuccino
The car that runs on coffee, so you don't have to...?

(麻豆淫院Org.com) -- Think you need a lot of coffee to get going in the morning? How about 56 espressos? That鈥檚 the kind of power the experimental car, the "Carpuccino," needs just to travel one mile!

The coffee-guzzling 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco, was created for the , a BBC-sponsored traveling show for kids that begins in Manchester, England on March 11, 2010. It was built by the BBC1 team of , a popular science show for kids ages 8 to 14. Bang Goes The Theory will broadcast the Carpuccino鈥檚 escapades this May.

Carpuccino, the aptly-named mobile, will need approximately 155 pounds of , the equivalent of 11,760 espressos, to make the 210 mile trip from London to Manchester. At retail prices, the coffee would cost about 15 times the cost of gasoline, but BBC1 is using coffee grinds gathered from British-based coffee meister, Costa Coffee. (Note to self: add automobile fuel to list of ).

Carpuccino's fuel tank. (Image via Daily Mail)
Carpuccino's fuel tank. (Image via Daily Mail)

Unfortunately, you can鈥檛 just pour the coffee grinds down your , so BBC1 built a special fuel system to convert the grinds into the 鈥渃affeine鈥 needed for Carpuccino鈥檚 take-off. They are poured into a gas cylinder and heated in a charcoal fire, where the coffee breaks down into hydrogen and carbon monoxide before being piped into the Carpuccino鈥檚 roof-top radiator. There, the gases are cooled before passing through the car鈥檚 dual-filtering system which prevents tar and solids from entering the engine.

How The Carpuccino Works (Image via Daily Mail)
How The Carpuccino Works (Image via Daily Mail)

As you may have suspected, the Carpuccino鈥檚 tank doesn鈥檛 hold 155 pound of coffee required to make the trip from London to Manchester without refueling, so the team will have to stop every 30 to 45 miles to refuel. In addition, every 60 miles, the coffee filters will need changing! With all the stops, it鈥檚 estimated that Carpuccino will take about 10 hours to drive the 210 miles to Manchester.

Yes, it鈥檚 a grind, but it鈥檚 all in the name of Science, proving to young students that the more you know of it, the more anything is possible.

More information: Daily Mail:

漏 2010 麻豆淫院Org.com

Citation: BBC Science Team Builds Coffee Fueled Car... The Carpuccino (2010, March 10) retrieved 10 May 2025 from /news/2010-03-bbc-science-team-coffee-fueled.html
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