Move over Bugatti, Lamborghini and Saleen, the Ronn Motors Scorpion is a supercar that will scoot 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and achieve 40 mpg, too. For those who think this sounds a little far fetched, on May 1, 2008 I had talked about Ronn Motors teaming up with the Hydrorunner G3, which is an onboard water and electrolysis unit (from Check Engine in Florida) that creates hydrogen-on-demand, improving gas mileage significantly and reducing emissions.
Now, Ronn Motors has publically unveiled their Austin, Texas based exotic car, the first vehicle ever to come standard with a water-fueled hydrogen on demand unit. I spoke today with Ronn Motors Vice President Adrian Pylypec about the Scorpion and Hydrorunner partnership.
According to Pylypec, the Ronn Scorpion will achieve about 27 mpg without the Hydrorunner hydrogen generator installed, which is excellent for a supercar. With the Hydrorunner, however, the engineering department is expecting to achieve 40 mpg by the time the first of 190 of these limited run Scorpions rollout in October 2008.
Now, I’ve talked about hydrogen gas savers recently as a way to retrofit one’s current automobile to run partially on water via electrolysis. But, the Scorpion will be the first to include a hydrogen fuel injection system stock and this is due in large part to the dual computer processor of the Hydrorunner that will optimize the flow of HHO gas and fuel into the vehicle’s intake system.
Mr. Pylypec stated that they needed to find a vendor who was technologically advanced in this area and the Check Engine Hydrorunner has filled the bill. The Scorpion has a curb weight of 2,100-pounds, 450 hp with dual turbos, an air conditioned engine and performance suspension. Top speed will be over 200 mph as is expected from a vehicle in the supercar class.
The Ronn Scorpion has a 1.5 gallon water tank for the Hydrorunner with a 2 gallon auxiliary tank. Engineering is also working on recycling water from the condensation of the air conditioning system so that the water tanks never have to be refilled.
When I asked Mr. Pylypec about the timeframe in developing the Ronn Scorpion, he replied, “I wanted to go from napkin to asphalt in one year.” Pylypec and CEO Ronn Maxwell had started working on the Scorpion concept in September 2007.
Now has Ronn Motors thought beyond the Scorpion? They have. In fact, the next car they will be developing within 6 months is slated to be a 4-passenger luxury car that also features a hydrogen-on-demand system. It’s early in the game and details of this vehicle are still being worked out, however.
One additional note that I have to add is that the Ronn Motors Scorpion will have a sticker price of $150,000 when it rolls out and the company is now taking advanced orders.
I also heard that the Scorpion has a system sort-of like that of the Giugiaro Vadho. It will show traffic lights and road signs.
And now we are in June 2013…what happened?
Appears that they are in trouble with the IRS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronn_Motor_Company