In MIT’s electric Porsche, I could reach my in-law’s Cape home in 39 minutes, and still have some juice left to take the kids out for ice cream.

Students at MIT’s Electrochemical Laboratory have stuffed this 1976 Porsche (right) with batteries, and are limiting their experiments to MIT parking lots.

One MIT grad student says the Porsche consumes the electrical equivalent of 65 miles per gallon.

MIT student ingenuity plus high-tech batteries yields advanced all-electric Porsche – MIT News Office
With a click and a hum, the sleek Porsche 914 pulled away from the curb while onlookers watched anxiously and the passenger gazed down at a laptop plugged into the dashboard.

Why the drama? Once powered by a conventional gasoline engine, the 1976 Porsche now operates on 18 high-tech batteries–the result of work by dedicated MIT students and their mentors.