One Gallon Challenge vehicles on the way to Boston

The One Gallon Challenge kicked off this morning in Greenfield, Massachusetts and AutoblogGreen reader Peter L. sent in a short report and some pictures from the scene:

Attached are some pix from the start of the One Gallon Challenge this morning. No results yet, since they are still on the road to Boston. There are six entries, but one of them is not road ready (the Roopod doesn't have breaks or lights).

The MIT team arrived late, with a Porsche that has had its IC engine replaced with an electric, and a large bank of batteries. they came all the way from Cambridge on about 80% of their charge. It doesn't seem to me that they have done much that is innovative. I was surprised.

One guy arrived in an ordinary pickup truck carrying barrels of wood and a sort of a still in the back. The still 'gassifies' the wood and the gas is lead to where the carburator was. Interesting, if ugly, and i wonder how they will calculate the MPG equivalent for wood fuel. He claims he can put trash into the still, bringing images of the scene in 'Back to the Future'.

The 'Roopod' is, in my opinion, the most beautiful piece of work there, by a graduate of RISD [Rhode Island School of Design]. He has artist's renditions of the finished car, which will allow most of the beautiful curved aluminum framing to show. The car has a 13 hp diesel engine which powers the rear wheel.

Check out the pics below.