Buckeye Bullet 2 claims land speed record for fuel cell vehicles, 300.992 mph
We first heard about the Buckeye Bullet 2 about two years ago when we were covering the Ford Fusion 999 land speed record project. The student engineering team from The Ohio State University was collaborating with engineers from Ford and the two teams shared data on improving performance of the fuel cell and electric motor system. While Ford finished the Fusion program after setting a 207 mph record, the OSU team has soldiered on.This week at the Bonneville Salt Flats, the Buckeye team made another attempt at hitting their target of 300 mph. After making the required two passes in opposite directions, the hydrogen-fueled streamliner finally topped the magic mark. Over the flying mile, the car averaged 299.900 mph. In the flying kilometer, the average was 300.992 mph with a top recorded speed of 304 mph. That makes this the first hydrogen vehicle to top 300 mph and the fastest FIA recorded speed for an electric drive vehicle. The original battery-powered Buckeye Bullet 1 has a national record of 314.958 mph and maximum recorded speed of 321.834 mph.
[Source: Buckeye Bullet Blog]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mark Kiernan 8:33AM (9/24/2009)
Why are there so many people pouring their resources into this wasteful technology? It reached 300mph, so? It might as well be a rocket car.
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Boyprodigy1 10:54AM (9/24/2009)
That would be more efficient...
paulwesterberg 8:57AM (9/24/2009)
And after 3 years they still haven't managed to surpass the battery powered speed record.
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Joe 9:29AM (9/24/2009)
Keep in mind that they only get 1 or 2 attempts per year to set the record, and things don't always go as planned. The BB2 is also a lot more complicated than the BB1.
Chris M 9:17PM (9/24/2009)
Not too surprising, fuel cells tend to have less power than batteries, especially considering that their cost per kw is much higher. The result is that, even though their H2FC car was more expensive than their BEV, it had less power thus couldn't achieve the same speed,.
letstakeawalk 11:58AM (9/24/2009)
Whatever happened to being enthusiastic about people who set themselves to a task, and then achieve it through hard work? All the sour grapes I'm hearing because the car happens to be powered by a hydrogen fuel-cell.
Sheesh, people, grow up. You're acting like Kanye and making jerks of yourselves complaining that something else was better. We should be celebrating advances in automotive technology, not grumbling because it wasn't our preferred form.
Kudos to the Buckeye Bullet team. They wanted to hit 300 mph, and they did it. They set a new world record, and they beat the Ford guys by a large margin. Keep it up Buckeyes - next year go faster!!
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mister nomer 11:33PM (9/24/2009)
+1
What 'letstakeawalk' said.
Cwhite 3:53PM (9/24/2009)
Good work, Buckeyes! They are a dedicated and hard-working bunch of students, faculity, staff and volunteers. Reaching goals with the Bullets 1 & 2 really motivates our future engineers.
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