Filed under: Etc., Transportation Alternatives, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, Santa Monica Alt Car Expo
Alt Car Expo: video of the homemade, 100+mpg Moonbeam
"A gallon of gas is a miracle," says Jory Squibb. Unlike most of the other participants at the Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica this weekend, Squibb embraced standard petroleum fuel for his latest project. But, with his long history of making environmentally safe cars, he radically rethought what a car needs to be. The result is the Moonbeam, a microcar made from Honda Elite 150 scooters, one in the rear and two in the front of the dome-shaped car. The scooters and the rest of the material cost him about $2,500. The rest of the cost: about 1,000 hours of work.
Squibb originally considered driving the Moonbeam from Maine to California, but ended up towing it behind his Camry. While he's happy with the car now, the long nights in the garage are not necessarily over. Squibb said that, if battery technology continues to improve the way it has recently, he may convert the Moonbeam to lithium ion batteries in a few years.
For more details than you can shake a stick at, visit Squibb's website about the Moonbeam. And, if you like the video, please vote for it by clicking that little up arrow in the orange circle at the top of the video box. Thanks.
Lastly, a question for AutoblogGreen readers who pay attention to details: does the location of the video above look familiar at all?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
geekmorgan 5:15PM (12/11/2006)
looks like the place where the tesla roadster was unveiled.
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Sebastian 12:37AM (12/12/2006)
And so it is. The Barker Hanger in Santa Monica airport is my new home away from home.
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Paul Arnold 12:52AM (3/05/2007)
Its a great concept ...and can be developed further ..
1. Use Electric Scooter as the basis for the conversion
2. Coat the Canopy with DSSC Nano technology Solar Dyes
so that it will generate it own Power directly from the Sun as you Drive.
We call this the "PHOTON-DRIVE" Concept...
watch http://www.eVehicle.co.nz for more info as developments progress...
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joey derh 3:21PM (3/09/2007)
Dear Moonbeam Inventor,
I think you have a great idea. We all should be careful of the resources that we use, but I think that you might be barking up the wrong tree for the reasons why we should indeed conserve. While listening/reading your comments, it seems that you believe in the myth of man-kinds effect on global warming. Here is some quick, and not so quick reading about the facts. ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16960409/site/newsweek/ or better a book tittled Unstoppable global warming : every 1,500 years by S. Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery located at call number 551.6 SIN in your local library ) As for renewable resources such as wind ( sometimes it does not blow and is hard to store ), sun ( sometimes it does not shine and is hard to store ), ethanol from corn or other crops ( the amount of energy it takes to produce is astronomical ), they just plain are not the answer. My answer is to walk, bike, or ride small motorcycles. ( by the way i do this year round living in a much colder minnesota and would look forward to global warming ) We should conserve just because we can. There is no reason to eat the whole birthday cake when there are other people at the party. Conserving because of the wrong reason ( man-kinds making of global warming ) is ridiculous.
Keep up the great work,
Joey
p.s. i think nuclear power ultimately is our answer. how else are we going to charge up all those electric cars without using fossil fuels? as for the waste, one word, iraq.
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roy 5:35AM (11/20/2008)
SHUT UP YOU PRICK.
Sasa 5:49AM (4/19/2007)
Great article
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Arnie 3:15AM (12/10/2007)
Jory Squibb makes one very important piont: why would you need to drive a massive vehicle to do your daily stuff? It's beyond belief how many people drive massive SUV's or pick-up trucks without the actual need for such a vehicle. furthermore, most vehicles you see do not carry any other person than the driver. It's a joke, be it not a funny one.
Oil imports from less-than-frienldy countries can be partle or completely eliminated if people finally understand the need for smaller vehicles such as the Moonbeam. It'd be nice if the established car industry picks up on the idea and starts to build more small, fuel-efficient cars SOON, otherwise in due time they will not be building any cars any more for a long time.
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kevin 7:35PM (3/18/2008)
Okay good nice concept . but lest take that into the realistic world. yes iw also agree with many poster before ME . I LIVE IN NEWYORKK CITy and i cannot tell you how mnay countless times that i have seena single mom driving a gas guzzling Cadillac suv picking up groceries. Is that neccisary?? God damb yes it may be ur car but at least have some conern for the environment and other around you . People like those are the one contributing to sky high gas prices. Also the hybrid Cadillac is coming out this year . Still average millage (18 city 2008 epa standards) but it should be an eye opener . If an 4000 pound suv can have the ability to get 18mpg why cant a car weighing 1 third the weight have 1 third more mpg . (nothing is compromised even though it is a hybird )
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