Yesterday I Posted About A Wood Burning Stove,

keeping to the wood burning theme, how about wood burning cars?

wood gasification is a process whereby organic material is converted into a combustible gas under the influence of heat - the process reaches a temperature of 1,400 °C (2,550 °F), the gas produced can then be burned, the first use of wood gasification dates back to 1870s, when it was used as a forerunner of natural gas for street lighting and cooking, could this be the answer to our energy crisis? at the end of the last war in Germany alone around 500,000 producer gas vehicles were in operation, a network of some 3,000 "petrol stations" was set up, where drivers could stock up on firewood, not only private cars but also trucks, buses, tractors, motorcycles, ships and trains were equipped with a wood gasification unit,

woodmobiles also appeared in the US, Asia and, particularly, Australia, which had 72,000 vehicles running on woodgas, together, more than one million producer gas vehicles were used during World War Two, rising fuel prices and global warming have resulted in renewed interest in firewood as a direct fuel, so is this the way to go? 

the good news is that heavy and expensive batteries that electric cars need are done away with, also of course the range of modern electric cars are so dated, take for instance this years new crop of electric cars like the 2010 Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i-MiEV, in range for a charge they can barely match electric cars that were built over 100 years ago!

like the humble 1908 Fritchle Model A Victoria: 100 miles (160 kilometres) on a single charge, the best of today can barely match that! OK so today they go a little faster, but leaving the car to one side the technology could also be used for stationary power production, say for producing electricity, but going back to cars that burn wood, can you imagine the check list going on a picnic? hamper, table and chairs, the kids, chainsaw and remember to pick the picnic destination wisely, like the local forest for fuel in case you do not have enough to get home!