From Gas Guzzler To Lean, Green Machine

By: Hari Sreenivasan
Topics: Field Notes

(CBS/John Filo)

Hari Sreenivasan is a CBS News correspondent based in Dallas.

Johnathan Goodwin is a tinkerer through-and-through. He doesn't look at problems like most of us do. Perhaps it's his lack of formal schooling that allows him to be unconstrained, but it's amazing what he has been able to teach himself – and in the process, teach a lot of other grease monkeys and engineers – about cars. What he has been able to inspire in many others is remarkable.

The LincVolt is more than just a car. It has become a project that is inspiring an entire platform of change for the type of work that Goodwin does. Besides this amazing battery and rotary powered engine (a measely 1.3 liter one from an old Mazda) that can throw you back into your seat when he steps on the gas, it has enough power keep the lights on in your house. Working with the folks in Greensburg, Kansas (the town rebuilding completely green from the ground up after a catastrophic tornado wiped it off the map), this car will generates up to 75KW of power and can take a house completely off the electricity grid.

Imagine going for a drive on battery power, your Certified Natural Gas powered rotary motor kicks in to recharge those batteries, and when you get home, you plug your car back in to recharge your house. Now imagine a series of these homes with similar cars in their garages, and you start to see the way Goodwin thinks. Yes, he builds cool cars, does amazing things with off-the-shelf parts, but he looks at the next problem and the next and sees the new tools he has to try and keep going.

Goodwin is now working on a way to convert a Lincoln truck to a hybrid electric vehicle in a day by adding a secondary platform underneath. He'll leave the existing motor and transmission in place to charge the batteries and in the process double to quadruple the fuel economy, radically cut the emissions and turn it into a three mode vehicle overnight. He plans to take this truck along with the LincVolt up to Detroit to give the folks at Ford rides around what is left of their company this spring.

Wal-Mart has sent him one of their fleet vehicles that he's tweaking to be more fuel efficient and less polluting. Keep in mind that if his slight modifications like a different exhaust and air intake systems, and changes to the programming work for one of their diesel trucks, the changes could work for the other 30,000 vehicles in their fleet.

Here is an example of a Goodwin thought. While talking about the Wal-Mart project, he gets far more excited about the bigger picture. He explains to me how it could be one of the largest fuel suppliers in the country because of all the vegetable oil it sells. The next step was just to convince and incentivize customers to bring their used cooking oil back, and that they'd have enough fuel for every store.

The one thing that is constant in Goodwin's vehicles – and outlook – is change. Even in the few months I've been working with him for this story, plans for his vehicles change based on what is coming around the technological curve. Whether it is a new battery system from Australia or a new set of adjustments that he can make to prototypes like the LincVolt, he doesn't rest. While it is the well-to-do that finance the conversions of their super-cars, Goodwin is also working on kits that the rest of us could one day walk up to our auto-shops and have installed to get our cars faster, meaner and most definitely greener.

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by zzy-izzy December 10, 2008 4:38 PM EST: The big three need to put this man in charge of there companys.; Reply to this comment


by damacleze December 10, 2008 12:43 AM EST: I mean I owned a 1965 Supersport Chevy Impala ..many years ago...
One of the hottest looking Impalas ever made..remember Hary...1965...
not 1964.....; Reply to this comment


by damacleze December 10, 2008 12:28 AM EST: That hot Chevy Impala was a 1965 model..I know I own a SS model from 1965 with a Corvette engine
327 375 horses...do your research if your not old enough too know about the past...; Reply to this comment


by bojimmiebo December 9, 2008 11:25 PM EST: I wonder how many other performance entusiast in the auto industry can take a vehicle, double the horsepower and triple the torque yet improve mpg twice over. The report said the cost would be from hundreds to thousands. I guess it depends on how much an enthusiast would pay for such results. Plenty has been spent for far less results. Go Goodwin!!; Reply to this comment


by rmchaffie77 December 9, 2008 11:16 PM EST: The infrastructure already exists, companies like Walmart could easily add natural gas pumps, I understand the emission issue, however, the production of bi-fuel vechicles by the big 3 would put several thousands back to work, The bi-fuel technology is not new and currently is used by the Federal government, car companies will not market these cars to private individuals. While this not the final solution it is a step in the right direction, strenghtens the economey, reduces the requirement for bail-outs, reduces emissions by 30% using natural gas, best of all helps many Americans. It reduces our dependence on oil. The big 3 make promises and somewhere over the rainbow there is a solution, not long ago the big 3 went to Congress to extend legisation against emissions, bi-fuel cars/trucks would provide an intermediate measure while helping a desparate group in our economey.; Reply to this comment


by autobiz December 9, 2008 10:52 PM EST: No mention of cost, or down sides! Plus, if suddenly everyone were driving a natural gas powered vehicle think about the infrastructure you need to set up to get those vehicles fueled. Plus there are many people that can do this stuff already and even hydrogen powered/electric cars with far less emissions than natural gas. Its simple, if it was that simple it would be here in our driveways already!; Reply to this comment


by detroiter11 December 9, 2008 10:25 PM EST: Another reason to not watch this biassed show. Why did you not mention that these modifications cost hundrs of thousands of dollars and actually have a horrific carbon footprint. The production of lead acid or nickel metal hydride batteris are the worse thing this planet needs right now. Any car can be made to travel several hundred miles on batteries but at what cost to the owners or the environment. Liked your little dig to Detroit at the end of the broadcast sweetie. Again it shows how out of touch the media is over the real cost of fuel economy!; Reply to this comment


by realgman58 December 9, 2008 10:20 PM EST: I so enjoy the CBS Evening News. Thanks to all of you who make it so informative. Persons like Goodwin are who make America great. Turn him loose in Detroit.
God Bless our Nation!; Reply to this comment


by fatnuckle December 9, 2008 10:12 PM EST: How can you give such a one-sided story. No mention of trade-offs? Or emissions? Cost? Showing things as false miracle cures contributes to the dumbing down of the American public.; Reply to this comment


by dinksink December 9, 2008 10:08 PM EST: Katie - The mechanic must not go to work in Detroit....HE NEEDS TO RUN DETROIT!

CBS is doing a great job of producing the evening news.
Bill Crawford - Harshaw Wisconsin; Reply to this comment