THE ULTIMATE ROAD-TRIP vehicle exists. It’s an SUV, of course, and it does all you’d expect of a big car聴carry full-grown friends even in the back, haul gear in its 36-cubic-foot cargo hold, tow a trailer聴and one thing you’d never expect: get more than 100 miles per gallon. Just don’t look for this wonder vehicle in Detroit or even Japan. The customized Chevrolet Equinox is the creation of the Hybrid Electric Vehicle Center at the University of California at Davis, where a student team, led by Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering professor Andrew Frank, has converted the SUV into a plug-in hybrid with an engine that runs on any combination of gas and ethanol.

Frank, 73, has been at the forefront of hybrid-vehicle research since 1970, and actually holds a patent for the plug-in electric hybrid聴though it’s unclear if he will be able to cash in on the technology without going to court.

Nevertheless, Frank and his students will unveil the Equinox at the Challenge X, an eco-car showdown that starts May 31 at General Motors’ Michigan proving grounds, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and GM. “What we plan to show is that plug-in hybrids are feasible now,” says Douglas Saucedo, 25, a mechanical-engineering grad student who averages 10 to 15 hours a week in the UC Davis auto-shop-cum-lab. “We’re a team of students, and we’re building this plug-in; there’s no reason that a major car company can’t do it.” The class project runs for 50 miles on electric power alone聴better than the ballyhooed Chevrolet Volt concept car, announced in January (see Code Green, April)聴then switches to conventional hybrid technology that nets 40 miles per gallon. Plug it into any standard 110-volt outlet to replenish the battery in about seven hours.

In camp, with 15.7 kilowatt-hours on board, the Equinox can be converted into a powerhouse for every road-trip convenience. You could run an in-car fridge, electric stove, microwave, DVD player, and more. Such luxe upgrades could easily be added to future models to create the ultimate road-tripper.

So when can you hit the open road in a gas-sipping SUV? Domestic commercial production is still some years away. In the meantime, Frank plans to take the eco-Equinox on its first long-distance journey next summer, driving from Detroit to Washington, D.C. And who knows? With his students help, he might just load up with camping gear, throw a few bikes on top, and make it a proper road trip.

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It’s not like we needed another reason to love Moab. But we’ve got one: Utah’s red-rock mecca for adventure sports is pursuing one of the most ambitious green-energy policies of any town in the West. The movement is led by mayor and 35-year resident Dave Sakrison, 61, who was elected in 2000 and three years later had government offices supplying half their kilowatt-hours with emissions-free wind power. He then successfully challenged 15 percent of residents and 40 percent of businesses to do the same a move that coincided with Moab’s recognition as the EPA’s first Green Power Community and in 2005 finished construction on a geothermally heated and cooled city hall. This April, the Moab Chevron station will install southern Utah’s first biodiesel tanks. Meanwhile, mountain bikers coming to town for the storied 12-mile Slickrock Trail can turn to Moab Cyclery, which powers its shop with an eight-megawatt solar-electric system and runs five 15-passenger vans on used veggie oil (bike rental with shuttle, $50; moabcyclery.com). Off the trail, there’s the carbon-offset River Canyon Lodge (doubles from $59; ).

Moab, Utah

SLICKROCK SPIN: Moab Mountain Biking

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