1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Is PICC Technology real?

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by DougD, Jan 14, 2008.

  1. DougD

    DougD Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2005
    9
    4
    0
    Location:
    Chicago-land
    Okay, just saw an advertisement for a new technology to significantly improve gas mileage on ANY car to potentially exceed 100 MPG. The site is impressive (if real). Are there any 'experts' out there who have looked at this or could sniff it out?

    Thanks,

    Doug

    PICC
     
  2. hobbit

    hobbit Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 23, 2005
    4,089
    468
    0
    Location:
    Bahstahn
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    "scientific" in that usage is totally a red-flag word.
    .
    _H*
     
  3. priusenvy

    priusenvy Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2004
    1,765
    14
    0
    Location:
    Silicon Valley, CA
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Sure it's real. As real as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

    The real goal of the "technology" is to separate fools and their money.

    Consider that the average gasoline engine has an efficiency somewhere in the high-teens to low-twenty percent range (Prius engine is ~37% efficient IIRC). Nine times more efficient than that means the engine is producing twice as much work than is contained in the fuel. Does that sound like anything other than a fairy tale to you?
     
  4. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2006
    18,058
    3,073
    7
    Location:
    Northern Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Must be the first practical application of the Carnot Cycle engine. I'll have to get rid of that crappy Atkinson Cycle one in my Prius. <rolling eyes>

    Snake oil. Snake Oil. SNAKE OIL!!!

    Tom
     
  5. priusenvy

    priusenvy Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2004
    1,765
    14
    0
    Location:
    Silicon Valley, CA
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    If you decide to waste a few minutes of your life reading some of their claims (for the entertainment value), you'd find that they are harnessing the wasted energy in those incompletely combusted hydrocarbons that make it to the catalytic converter. So by harnessing the energy in this < 1% of your fuel, you can get nine times the fuel mileage. Yeah, that's plausible...NOT!
     
  6. FL_Prius_Driver

    FL_Prius_Driver Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 17, 2007
    4,319
    1,527
    0
    Location:
    Tampa Bay
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    I
    It has to be snake oil. Everyone knows that Detroit has acquired all auto technology that allows 100 mpg and has an army of lawyers to protect it.
     
  7. Stringmike

    Stringmike New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 18, 2006
    77
    5
    0
    They also sell the systems that use electricity from your alternator to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen, then reburn it. This turns the engine and alternator, which generates more hydrogen and oxygen - hey perpetual motion!

    As a physicist, I am skeptical of any system that seems to work outside the laws of physics.

    Run very fast in the opposite direction!

    Mike
     
  8. priusenvy

    priusenvy Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2004
    1,765
    14
    0
    Location:
    Silicon Valley, CA
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Actually, they buried it inside Hoover Dam, along with Megatron and the AllSpark. Elvis and Jim Morrison are guarding all of it.
     
  9. galaxee

    galaxee mostly benevolent

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2005
    9,810
    464
    0
    Location:
    MD
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    "LOL"
    ASE Master Certified Mechanic, Engine Performance Specialist, Undercar Specialist, somewhere in NC
     
  10. jammin012

    jammin012 The man behind The Man

    Joined:
    Nov 23, 2007
    510
    6
    0
    Location:
    Cali
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    After viewing the video I tried to wrap my head around it. Of course had questions and was skeptical. I sent the link to the guys at work and wouldn't you know one of their uncles worked at GM in the 70's and ran his fuel line through, what I guess is a cat as I don't remember them in the 70's, and used the heat to vaporized his gas. Then had an injector built for his carb and was getting right aound 100mpg. He even used water mixed with the fuel in the injector. Guess there might be something to this.
     
  11. jammin012

    jammin012 The man behind The Man

    Joined:
    Nov 23, 2007
    510
    6
    0
    Location:
    Cali
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Apearently you're not reburning or re-using that 1% of liquid fuel, you're taking 100% of the fuel, vaporizing it and actually using what is needed for 100% burning of the gasious fuel. You actually use less liquid fuel than you would be normally, which is less than the 99% that burned in the first place. I guess..... I think I just hurt myself.
     
  12. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2006
    21,700
    11,302
    0
    Location:
    eastern Pennsylvania
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    You could just run your fuel through a metal line wrapped around the exhaust manifold for a lot less than what they'll quote you. A warm air intake can improve milage by allowing the air and fuel to mix better. Pre-heating the fuel might help for the same reasons. Water injection might even help. But they might do nothing or hurt milage, depending on the car.
    Some have experimented with these techniques over at gassavers.org.
     
  13. alanh

    alanh Active Member

    Joined:
    May 22, 2007
    1,175
    99
    0
    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Note that they're not even actually selling this "PICC" device yet -- they're just offering an interim product that's the old hydrogen generator and fuel line magnets.

    Apart from the implausible physics, the other problem with these bolt-on devices is that even if they're super-efficient, they can't fix inefficiencies elsewhere in the car. They don't shut off the engine when stopped or regenerate energy from braking, for example.

    This company seems to have a big advertising budget, at least -- they took out a full page ad in Newsweek.
     
  14. diamondlarry

    diamondlarry EPA MPG #'s killer

    Joined:
    May 20, 2007
    559
    12
    0
    Location:
    Elkhart, IN
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    I think they've also been in U.S. News and World Report and several more of the more mainstream magazines.
     
  15. MikeSF

    MikeSF Member

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2006
    416
    19
    0
    Location:
    San Francisco
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    I just saw an advertisement for this in Popular Science! but then again it was near the back where they sell adspace to ANYONE with enough money.
     
  16. diamondlarry

    diamondlarry EPA MPG #'s killer

    Joined:
    May 20, 2007
    559
    12
    0
    Location:
    Elkhart, IN
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    I think you will be seeing them in a lot more magazines in the future. I here they have a huge ad budget.
     
  17. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2005
    4,067
    687
    0
    Location:
    Eastern Oregon
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    V
  18. jammin012

    jammin012 The man behind The Man

    Joined:
    Nov 23, 2007
    510
    6
    0
    Location:
    Cali
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    So there I was.....

    I figured why not, can't hurt to ask. I applied for a quote for my 2007 Prius, and friend's 2004 Ranger and 1998 Dakota.

    LOL this is what I got back, and mind you I applied the day of my first post on this thread.

    There's no way in hell I'd ever buy anything from this company.
     

    Attached Files:

  19. Winston

    Winston Member

    Joined:
    May 19, 2007
    614
    20
    0
    Location:
    SF Bay Area, California
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    "We are too fast to process credit card orders." Wth? What a bunch of nonsense. More like "We are too shady to allow control of our payments by a credit card company"
     
  20. Black2006

    Black2006 Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2006
    198
    6
    0
    Hey, if you install PICC plus the Hydrogen Assist Fuel Cell, you can probably MAKE energy while driving! I am thinking of offering a remote storage cell, which can also power your house with such excess energy. Or you can sell the energy to the neighbors, and make enough money to retire:couch2:

    Dennis Lee Scam & Hydro Boost Scam

    If interested in the remote storage cell, and financial freedom, send $10,000 Euros to me.