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Lotus Engineering, the world
renowned automotive consultancy
division of Lotus, unveils its
latest development towards
carbon neutral road transport.
The Lotus Exige 270E Tri-fuel is
the most powerful road version
yet of the Exige (0-60 mph / 96
kph in 3.88 seconds, a top speed
of 158 mph (255 km/h), 270 hp
(201 kW / 273 PS at 8000 rpm)
and it runs on any mixture of
gasoline, bioethanol and
methanol. 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.
An alcohol-based fuel derived
renewably from atmospheric CO2
would allow society to transfer
relatively easily to
sustainable, carbon-neutral
internal combustion. Lotus
Engineering is researching the
use of sustainable synthetic
alcohols as potential future
fuels, with technology available
from Lotus for introduction in
four to five years. However, the
supply infrastructure investment
from governments and fuel
companies could take 15 to 20
years.
The Exige 270E Tri-fuel is part
of Lotus’ research to understand
the complex combustion process
involved in running on mixtures
of alcohol fuels and gasoline,
which will be important for a
successful transition from
today’s fuels to the
sustainable, synthetic fuels of
the future.
This research is just one aspect
of Lotus Engineering’s
ground-breaking work on
environmentally-friendly
vehicles. It is involved with a
number of electric vehicle
projects, has successfully
integrated hybrid technologies
into vehicles such as its EVE
demonstrator, and recently
announced results on a
collaboration with Continental
Division Powertrain on the Low
CO2 downsized three-cylinder
engine. The research into
sustainable alcohols is
progressing 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.
Methanol (CH3OH) can be produced
synthetically from CO2 and
hydrogen. Ultimately, emerging
processes to recover atmospheric
CO2 will provide the required
carbon that can entirely balance
the CO2 emissions at the
tailpipe that result from the
internal combustion of synthetic
methanol. The result is that a
car running on synthetic
methanol, such as the Exige 270E
Tri-fuel would be
environmentally neutral.
As well as being green, the
great benefit of synthetic
methanol is that it would use
similar engines and fuel systems
to those in current cars; and
synthetic methanol can be
stored, transported and retailed
in much the same way as today’s
liquid fuels such as gasoline
and diesel.
Synthetic methanol also
possesses properties better
suited to internal combustion
than today’s liquid fuels,
giving improved performance and
thermal efficiencies. And it is
ideal for pressure-charging (turbocharging
and supercharging) already being
introduced by manufacturers to
downsize engines in a bid to
improve fuel consumption.
Lotus Engineering’s Lotus Exige
270E Tri-fuel technology
demonstrator illustrates how
easy it is for synthetic
methanol to be embraced over
time as a future fuel for road
transport. The Exige 270E
Tri-fuel, with its supercharged
2ZZ-GE VVTL-i engine, could be
the forefather of a new
generation of conventionally
driven cars that have the
potential to be
environmentally-neutral. |
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