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WISCONSIN MAN SAYS CAR COULD GET 130 MPG

Friday, February 1st, 2008 -- 11:39 AM

A Wisconsin man claims he's invented a vehicle capable of getting 130 miles-per-gallon.

Ingo Valentin of Elm Grove, which is near Milwaukee, is competing in the Automotive X Prize contest. The best new design will win more than $10-million.

It's a bit complicated, but the IngoCar relies on in-wheel motors and pressurized fluids?much like the hydrostatic powertrain found in construction equipment, but with improvements.

"I had designed for a large company in Germany a new powertrain. Based on those experiments, I started in the early 80s to develop a new hydrostatic powertrain starting with the hydraulic motor that drives the wheels," Valentin explains.

Those wheel motors are the "most important part of the subject", he says.

With a 3-piston engine that doesn't run unless more pressure is called for, it completely rethinks how to power a vehicle.

Even the energy from braking is stored and reused.

"Instead of driven by wheel motor, the wheels drive the motor and sends the energy back into the accumulator," Valentin says.

While he hasn't been able to put together a complete prototype, Valentin has tested elements of the vehicle and is confident the engineering is sound.

The X Prize contest seeks brilliant minds from around the world. It will officially be announced at the New York Auto Show in March. After testing, the winner will be chosen in 2010.

Will the IngoCar be commonplace someday? Valentin says it's all or nothing.

"This is the kind of thing when you change, you change everything. There's nothing in between, I don't think," Valentin notes. "So to your question: yes I believe?and I can prove?my answers are correct," Valentin claims.

Ingo Valentin will be our guest on In Depth Tuesday morning on Memories 1370 AM.


On The Web:
[url=http://www.valentintechnologies.com/]Valentin Technologies[/url]

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