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Six vehicles powered by coffee, saltwater, sewage and other crazy fuels
By Cat DiStasio When it comes to advances in automotive technology, the search for alternative fuels is pretty exciting. Of course, you've heard about biodiesel engines converted to run on used vegetable oil that sputter out little more than water and the faint smell of French fries. However, there's a slew of vehicles out there that run on all sorts of other fuels too. There's an electric car powered by caffeine, as well as a hot rod that runs on air. Other curious fuel sources include plain old saltwater, crude made from algae, and (inevitably) there are even a number of vehicles designed to run on biogas generated from livestock waste (or, in layman's terms, cars that run on poop). Although some may be smellier than others, these inventive energy sources offer an intriguing alternative to conventional fossil fuels.
Drivable 500,000 piece Lego car runs on compressed air, insanity (video)
If you're still stuck on that Lego Mindstorm EV3 project, then you might have a tiny inkling of how the folks from the Super Awesome Micro Project feel. They've just pieced together a car with 500,000 of the plastic blocks that can actually hit the road, thanks to four radial engines with 256 pistons that run on compressed air. It was designed and built by 20-year-old Romanian Lego savant Raul Oaida in 20 months after he and a partner raised "tens of thousands" of dollars from Aussie backers. It'll only cruise at 12-17 mph hour (since it's built of freaking Lego), but as shown in the video after the break, you probably wouldn't want to go any faster -- especially given the seats.
