Neil Young, UQM team up for green car conversion

FREDERICK – Rock legend Neil Young has turned to Frederick-based UQM Technologies to help him convert his beloved 1959 Lincoln ragtop into a hybrid vehicle that aims to get at least 10 times the gas mileage of the car’s original engine and go from zero to 60 in six seconds.

Young’s slightly battered white Lincoln Continental Mark IV is having its gas-guzzling engine replaced with a biodiesel-and-electric engine powered by UQM’s PowerPhase 150 traction system. H-Line Conversions, a Wichita, Kan.-based company, is doing the actual conversion and supplying its proprietary biofuel technology for the project.

“By drawing on entrepreneurial companies’ advanced technology…