Yes, a car that runs on coffee. It's not cheap, it's not efficient, and the looks are more Susan Boyle than Beyonce Knowles. But it is definitely cool. The vehicle, called the Car-puccino, is based on a 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco that was purchased for £400 (about $600).

So how does it work?

Though many will write this off as a hoax, the car is actually powered by a fluidized bed that uses coffee granules as biomass. The car is fueled by heating up the coffee granules to a temperature where the coffee granules break down and become a gaseous formation of hydrocarbons. These gases can then enter the car's engine where they are compressed, then ignited.

The car is capable of traveling one mile on 56 espressos worth of coffee. With a top speed of 60 miles per hour, the group plans to take the car on a 210 mile trip from Manchester to London. On the way, they will have to stop about every 60 miles to clear the filters of soot and tar.

 

What were thinking?

The car was created for a show on the BBC called "Bang Goes the Theory" that will air on March 15 and the Car-puccino episode will air on May 3.

The Car-puccino is one of those creative ideas that will probably never be commercialized. Though it is a cool concept to run a car on coffee grounds, there are other more efficient and cheaper ways to power a "green" car.

Source: Daily Mail