Technically, what [Macona] built with a surplus Solar T-62 turbine is not a dune buggy, but a sand rail, but it does have the delightfully rare combination of electric and turbine drive that is absolutely worth wading through a 53-page forum thread to learn about.

The turbine came bare as surplus, but [Marcona] used a pair of Kia/Hyundai HSG water-cooled motor-generators to turn it back into something very much like the APU it likely started out as. That’s APU as in “Auxiliary Power Unit” in this context, the little generator that keeps the lights on when your plane is sitting on the tarmac. That went into the sort of frame you’d once have put a VW bug engine in — and the 150 HP off the shaft of the turbine beats anything you’ll get with Wolfsburg’s little boxer motor, even after losses in the generator and motors. Even better, the whole assembly, which uses the electric motor from a Mitsubishi Outlander, likely doesn’t weigh any more than the internal combustion engine and transmission, so whatever you call this little off-roader it ought to move well. It certainly seems to in the demo video embedded below.

What it doesn’t do is sip fuel, the T-62 being rated at 19.3 gallons/hr at full load. Fuel efficiency is definitely not the motivation here. He’s absolutely not saving money, especially not with what jet fuel costs these days. It’s one of those projects done purely for the joy of it — where if you have to ask why, you’re barking up the wrong tree. The vehicle isn’t yet street legal, but [Marcona] is working on it.

If you do like the idea of this kind of series hybrid drive, Edison Motors of Canada is working on bringing it both to semitrucks and heavy trucks, and that is motivated by fuel savings.