Fascinating read — thank you for this. I’m a bit of a car buff, but I didn’t know about this one. I can only hope that fifty years from now, no one has to write the same kind of “if only” article about today’s Project Arrow 2.0. Canadians have always been brilliant innovators; our struggle has never been imagination — it’s been getting those ideas to market.
I suspect the electronics needed to make all the pieces work harmoniously didn't really exist at that time. Or would have been prohibitively expensive. In 1974, cars still used carburetors for fuel metering and ignition systems were completely mechanical. The idea of a digital engine control unit was still just an idea.
As a rural dweller at the time, a family member bought a diesel-run car right about the timeframe cited. At the time the practical argument was that diesel was cheaper and (if I recall) farmers bought diesel fuel in large quantities, held in tanks on the premises. The car benefit? Drive up to the on sight tank and "fill up".
I'm curious to know if there was ever a test-model built. If so, would such a model be in the Archives too? :-)
I pulled the NRC Engine Laboratory’s April 1975 report, LTR-ENG-37. The same lab that wrote the 1974 diesel-electric memo bought an experimental hybrid from the University of Toronto for one dollar. It had already run the 1970 Boston-to-Los Angeles Clean Air Race. It was a propane-fuelled GM V-8 with a DC motor and ten lead-acid batteries, not diesel. Testing stayed all-electric. The 4,200-pound car reached about 20 miles an hour. The paper is in the NRC Publications Archive. I have not found the car itself there.
What you described is quite illegal, since farm fuels are tax exempt and for use exclusively in unlicensed, off-road farm equipment. That said, it happens everywhere.
Fascinating read — thank you for this. I’m a bit of a car buff, but I didn’t know about this one. I can only hope that fifty years from now, no one has to write the same kind of “if only” article about today’s Project Arrow 2.0. Canadians have always been brilliant innovators; our struggle has never been imagination — it’s been getting those ideas to market.
Glad you enjoyed it. Pretty amazing the documents you can find from the government!
I suspect the electronics needed to make all the pieces work harmoniously didn't really exist at that time. Or would have been prohibitively expensive. In 1974, cars still used carburetors for fuel metering and ignition systems were completely mechanical. The idea of a digital engine control unit was still just an idea.
As a rural dweller at the time, a family member bought a diesel-run car right about the timeframe cited. At the time the practical argument was that diesel was cheaper and (if I recall) farmers bought diesel fuel in large quantities, held in tanks on the premises. The car benefit? Drive up to the on sight tank and "fill up".
I'm curious to know if there was ever a test-model built. If so, would such a model be in the Archives too? :-)
I pulled the NRC Engine Laboratory’s April 1975 report, LTR-ENG-37. The same lab that wrote the 1974 diesel-electric memo bought an experimental hybrid from the University of Toronto for one dollar. It had already run the 1970 Boston-to-Los Angeles Clean Air Race. It was a propane-fuelled GM V-8 with a DC motor and ten lead-acid batteries, not diesel. Testing stayed all-electric. The 4,200-pound car reached about 20 miles an hour. The paper is in the NRC Publications Archive. I have not found the car itself there.
What you described is quite illegal, since farm fuels are tax exempt and for use exclusively in unlicensed, off-road farm equipment. That said, it happens everywhere.
Back in the early 1970’s.