Leonardo of the Deep: Inventor Bob Evans thinks he’s found the future of fuel efficiency
Maybe the only invention Leonardo da Vinci hasn’t already imagined is the gas pod, a finely sculpted ceramic bulbosity encased in a shiny urethane shell that increases the fuel efficiency of cars to which it’s attached. That could be because Leonardo never got around to scuba diving. Had he done so, he might have beaten Bob Evans—a lifelong deep-sea diver, inventor, underwater photographer living in Santa Barbara, California—to the punch. By planting nine gas pods onto the rear roof line of his car—a square backed Volvo X70—Evans said, he achieved a small, but dramatic boost in mileage by reducing wind resistance. Trips that used to consume three-quarters of a tank, he said, now burn up only half. That may not be the equivalent of turning water into wine, but it’s significant. Over many trips, the savings add up, both in dollars and tail-pipe emissions.
Evans came up with the GasPod—more technically known as a vortex stabilizer—by extrapolating what he learned from studying the flow of water as it moves over surfaces. It’s been a subject of infinite fascination to Evans, whose genius lies in deciphering the mysterious marriage between form and function.