Green Lotus "will run on anything"
Image: Autoblog
Reporting from Geneva 2008, Autoblog says the Newest Lotus Exige 270E will run on anything. "This Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel concept pumps out 270 hp on methanol, and can also run on gasoline or ethanol. So not only is it the most powerful Exige ever sold by Lotus, but it's also the most ambi-fuelish too."
Since it's a Lotus, it also runs fast - (0-60 mph in 3.88 seconds, a top speed of 158 mph, 270 hp at 8000 rpm).
The promise is that "Emerging technologies will allow alcohol fuels such as methanol, already a proven internal combustion fuel, to be made synthetically from CO2 extracted from the atmosphere".
Lotus, which was founded by Colin Chapman in 1952 (date corrected), is banking on the idea that an alcohol-based fuel derived renewably from atmospheric CO2 would allow society to transfer relatively easily to sustainable, carbon-neutral internal combustion. The research is underway at Lotus' Hethel headquarters in Norfolk, UK and involves input from the Royal Society of Chemistry's Alternative Fuel Symposium Series, the Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform, developed by the Technology Strategy Board and direct discussions with the University of Sheffield.
What a joy it would be to leave Mideast oil behind. Faster, please.
