News and Media
Relations contact: Randy Weiler, 615-785-1196 (cell) or Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu / Follow on
Twitter @WeilerRandy
MTSU alternative
fuels expert contact: Dr. Cliff Ricketts, 615-308-7605 (cell) or Cliff.Ricketts@mtsu.edu
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — After the
first day of a 2,600-mile, coast-to-coast journey of driving on sun and
hydrogen from water, Middle Tennessee State University alternative fuels researcher
Dr. Cliff Ricketts said he has overcome the first hurdles.
“We had
challenges and we were able to deal with them,” the veteran MTSU professor said
Sunday during a break in the trip. The journey resumes Monday, March 11, as the
team heads to Jackson, Tenn., and Memphis before stopping overnight in the Van
Buren and Fort Smith, Ark., area.
Follow
Ricketts’ quest on Twitter (@WeilerRandy).
Not long after
a 2005 Toyota Prius, the first car being used on March 9, started out from
Tybee Island, Ga., Ricketts learned it had a transmission coolant problem.
Until it reached Macon, about three hours away, backup driver Terry Young of
Woodbury, Tenn., had to stop several times, allowing the car to cool.
“I’m 99 percent
sure it was not hydrogen-related,” said Ricketts, referring to part of the
fueling source for the two primary vehicles being used in the drive. “That’s
our guess. We don’t know for sure (that it was a transmission coolant problem).
Toyota doesn’t know.”
By the time the
car reached Macon, the problem seemed to have corrected itself.
The Prius and a
1994 Toyota Tercel use hydrogen from water separated by sun (solar), all
produced on the MTSU campus, as the fuel sources.
Ricketts
switched to the Tercel, nicknamed Forces of Nature, just south of Atlanta. It
made it through Atlanta despite some traffic congestion and then the climb up
Monteagle Mountain about 60 miles from its overnight destination of
Murfreesboro.
“We got those
behind us,” Ricketts said of the challenges. “Our next challenge will be Long
Beach. As long as we arrive by 3 o’clock (Pacific time), we’ll be OK.” His
reference to the challenge of Long Beach is traffic-related. They are expected
to arrive there on Thursday, March 14.
Ricketts, who
has spent 35 years in alternative fuels research, did add that another test
will be made known Monday morning about 7. A 2007 Prius, used as a backup, has
been in the shop with a mechanical issue.
The team plans
to stop in Jackson, Tenn., and Van Buren and Fort Smith in Arkansas to meet
with store officials from the Brentwood, Tenn.-based Tractor Supply Company.
TSC has been his major sponsor along with the MTSU Office of Research and
Louisville, Ky.-based Farm Credit Services of Mid-America.
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