California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has put the pedal to the metal on a Ronn Scorpion eco exotic car that partly runs on hydrogen. In fact, the “Governator” is so fond of the Scorpion that how he is considering buying one.
Now, I’ve talked about the Ronn Scorpion many times in the past including the H2GO hydrogen on demand unit inside that electrolyzes water and feeds the resulting hydrogen through the intake to supplement and catalyze the gasoline in the cylinders.
Governor Schwarzenegger is of course the author of California’s Hydrogen Highway program, which over the past 6 years has spawned 26 public hydrogen refueling stations in the state, with a few being added each year.
In October 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger drove his modified H2H Hummer to the opening of California’s first public hydrogen fueling station at the Los Angeles International Airport.
Governor Schwarzenegger contacted the Scorpion’s CEO Ronn Maxwell about the hydrogen gas saving exotic car after reading an article in the high profile Men’s Journal which proclaimed the Scorpion to be “God’s Own Supercar.”
The Ronn Scorpion has supercar speed with 0 to 60 mph acceleration in under 4 seconds and a top end of over 200 mph. The mainly gasoline-powered and partially hydrogen-powered exotic car also gets around 40 mpg as well.
Ronn Maxwell drove the Scorpion upon the sidewalk leading up to the steps of the Capital building in Sacramento for a photo op with Governor Schwarzenegger. The Governor is enthusiastic about small boutique alternative car companies creating jobs and giving consumers options in the marketplace where the Big 3 automakers have yet to come up to speed in this area.
I wrote Governor Schwarzenegger last year to tell him about this emerging hydrogen gas saver technology and in specific the device being used inside the Ronn Scorpion. That could have helped place a bug in his ear when deciding to take the Scorpion out for a test drive recently.
With an endorsement from one of the largest names in the hydrogen car movement, Governor Schwarzenegger gives this emerging hydrogen on demand technology a shot of credibility today that will hopefully lead to cleaner air and less dependence upon foreign oil tomorrow.
And many thanks for Paul Faulstich of the Hydrogen Energy Center for alerting me to this important news event yesterday.