Fuel-foraging vehicle: 8th Most Bizarre Biofuels Story of the Year

July 28, 2010 |

DARPA is funding this one: A military vehicle that forages for fuel.

According to its creators, the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR) will travel 100 miles per 68 pounds of vegetation — 17 percent more than a modern car generating 25 miles per gallon on E85 ethanol (with an ethanol conversion rate of 100 gallons per ton).

The EATR’s ultimate mission includes long range military reconnaissance without the need for manual or conventional re-fueling. The project has potential commercial applications outside military purposes, such as in border patrol, agriculture, forestry, natural disaster clean-up and recovery, and power generation in industrial or large-scale farming and logging settings.

Category: Research

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