One Man Beat High Gas Prices By Building A Wood-Burning Truck

Everyone is looking for a way to save gas right now. Some are going to greater lengths than others, and some have been doing it for a little longer than our current gas crisis. The father of Jp Prat Projects on YouTube has been using his wood-burning truck for more than 62,000 miles.

The truck doesn't use liquid fuel of any sort. Instead, the wood-burning stove mounted behind the cab produces carbon monoxide. Mixed with hydrogen, it serves as a substitute for gasoline in the combustion chamber of the old-school pushrod V8 under the hood of this 1983 Chevy. It takes a little more time than your average gas-powered car to get going, though. First, the truck needs to be fed with wood, then it takes about five or ten minutes to ignite. The owner uses some wadded newspaper as kindling, and an electric fan helps speed up the combustion process, with the engine stepping in once it's running. After that, the V8 can be fired up.

It's not clear how much power the truck makes, but the host says torque is best around 2,000 rpm. That's a very low figure, which is compensated for by a tweaked final drive ratio. It's not exactly the most practical way to get around, but the truck seems to go down the road just fine in the video below.

As you might imagine, the truck isn't terribly efficient. According to the video, it burns around 81 pounds of wood for every 60 miles. Modern cars that run purely on hydrogen are, predictably, significantly more efficient and less labor-intensive to run. BMW has invested heavily in hydrogen fuel cell technology, and is really one of the only manufacturers left pursuing the alternative to pure gasoline, besides Toyota.