That's an ocean of distance away from us. And we have people with expertise in building award-winning electric vehicles in our team.

People will actually learn something. With the recession here, some of the kids that will have a part in this project can't even afford a college degree. And they hardly can access a job or even an internship. At least this way they will be learning something, hands-on, instead of having just theory.
And we have several more projects. If you took at least five minutes to investigate, you'd know we work as a research project incubator and that we have more projects. One of the might actually save lives one day.

That might be your reality. It's not ours. If you have that option, I suggest you make the best out of it. We don't.

Regenerative braking is in the project...

I think you're missing the point. This is a research project, not the cost of buying/selling the whole kit. Therefore, it will be inherently much more expensive than an off-the-shelf conversion kit. It's the nature of the thing.

The solar panels on the roof were already on the project page :)
The computer controlled AWD/4WD system is already decided, but was not mentioned. Actually, there was talk of making it analogical instead of computer controlled.
The turbine engine is a possibility but we haven't given it much thought yet.

That is precisely what I mentioned in the article and what is described in the project page. The diesel engine will act only as generator.

That's why I wrote "sense of safety" instead of straight up "safety".

I give up and apologise for the inconvenient and politically incorrect joke.

We're hoping, if we manage to get enough money, to build a small sized reactor for production of biofuel from used cooking oil. If it is biofuel processed this way, it may be able to function without requiring additional modifications, or maybe adding a better fuel filter.

That is also one of the hypothesis, but we'd like first to try if we can avoid wasting the original engine of the SUV. If we can put it to good use, better. If not, we'll take a new approach. R&D is fun.

Fortunately, we do have people with experience in doing this for university projects that actually got awards. But this time we're doing it on a more serious scale, hoping to get a certified vehicle, and in a private non-profit institute, not in the university. The previous experiences were cars that were used in a national competition only, never were intended for official certification.

What about you, do you know what "non-profit" means? Since you didn't bother to pay attention, I'll explain it carefully: if we make any money from this, it won't be to help us buy a house in the Hamptons or an SLR. It will be to invest in the next research projects. The kits, if we manage to create them, will be for a cost, with the entire profit being invested in further research. But the plans and results will be fully available online, as well as a full bill of materials. Troll less, live longer.

environment friendly, maybe not, there will be also more economic and environment friendly vehicles like a car. But then again, a motorcycle also has better fuel economy than a car. Oh, what about the bicycle? Awesome fuel economy, 0L/km or infinite MPG unless you're counting gallons of fresh soda. Then you might end up with a pretty low mileage...
There will always be some waste. But at least we could reduce the waste. Make it more efficient. A compromise, if you will.

It was intended as a joke, not as an insult. And while it really was said as a joke, it is sadly true that many people use their vehicles as a way to overcome or overcompensate some of their inadequacies. And I'm not necessarily talking about anatomy.