Langford Performance Engineering, headquartered in Wellingborough England, designed and modified the Ford S-Max seven seat crossover vehicle into a series hybrid plug in vehicle with a C30 under the hood as an electric range extender. Langford reports that the “Whisper Eco-Logic” car gets up to 80 mpg in early stage demonstration testing.

“The Ford modified by Langford is an extremely practical solution and one that Langford has been working on for over two years,” said Jim Crouse, Capstone’s Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing. “The design characteristics of Capstone’s turbine permits ultra low emissions, high fuel economy, multi fuel capability, no coolants or lubricating oil, and little to no maintenance in an automotive application,” added Crouse.

“Our Whisper Eco-Logic vehicle is a plug in electric car with an on board turbine generator to keep the batteries charged and extend the range of the car beyond that of a typical electric vehicle,” said Dick Langford, Langford’s Founder and Managing Director. “This sets it apart from the hybrids now available such as the Lexus and Toyota which use conventional 4 stroke engines to provide both vehicle drive and battery charging. In early demonstration testing the car is getting up to 80 miles per gallon and travels 40 miles on electric power before the Capstone turbine generator starts up and charges the lithium ion batteries,” added Langford.

“Capstone was founded on the concept of a C30 powering hybrid vehicles so it is extremely gratifying to see the Langford Ford with a C30 under the hood,” stated Darren Jamison, Capstone’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Langford did an exceptional job integrating the turbine, power electronics and batteries into the vehicle without impacting any of the seven seats or increasing the overall vehicle weight,” added Jamison.

Langford Engineering will be marketing and demonstrating the plug in hybrid vehicle in hopes of further developing this concept with a suitable automotive partner who could commercialize the product for U.S. use and capitalize on a portion of the Obama administration’s $2.4 billion outlined in the stimulus fund to get more electric vehicles on U.S. roads.