Ecotricity founder Dale Vince is a guy with a dilemma we here at AutoblogGreen can empathize with. He's very environmentally aware yet he really likes fast cars. His solution? Build an electric sports car. Luckily, he's got wads of cash (and previous connections with Lotus) to make this sort of dream come true and, according to a post on his zerocarbonista blog, construction is already under way.
An Exige, judging by the rendition on his blog (picture above), is probably the donor chassis for this project and is currently lying in pieces in Norfolk, presumably at the Lotus shop there. No word on whether the new hybrid and electric car group within Lotus Engineering is involved with the undertaking but it seems rather likely. Of course we are familiar with another existing electric sports car with some Lotus DNA that Vince could have put his name on a list for but the required waiting time is probably too long for a guy so committed to green he only drove about 3,000 miles last year. Of course, if those miles were traveled in the Mercedes which appears with him in his explanatory video (after the jump) than that would be like 100,000 Prius miles.
The World's Sexiest Greenest Car Show is back; bigger, better and sexier than ever... so says the home page of The Co-Operated Insurance Sexy Green Car Show. Like last year, the Sexy Green Car Show promises to show off some of the best green car concepts to a captive British audience. Chief among these vehicles will be the Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel. Initially shown at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show, the Exige 270E is capable of running on gasoline, ethanol or methanol. A sophisticated computer system can detect what type of fuel the vehicle has been fed and can adjust necessary engine parameters to use that fuel. In the process, Lotus was able to tune the engine to extract a bit more power, 270 horses to be exact.
In addition to the car itself, Lotus is reportedly working on a new method of creating methanol which involves the extraction of waste carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. A chemical reaction with hydrogen produces both methanol and water. If a clean source for the production of methanol were indeed possible, flex-fuel vehicles could add it to their stable of power sources.
If a company set out to develop an electric sportscar, the Lotus 7 (or one of its various replicas) would be a good place to start. Considering that the main ethos of the vehicle is light weight, relatively heavy components like the battery aren't going to kill performance. Using a Siemens AC motor which is capable of a heady 272 horsepower and weighing in at 1,664 pounds, we don't think that the acceleration will suffer too much. The battery is made up of 196 Kokam lithium polymer cells and has a capacity of 29 kWh. Find all of the specifications here.
The Thorr electric car is created by Evisol, which also offers electric drive parts and batteries separate from any vehicles. In a flattering twist, you'll find all of our AutoblogGreen posts under the Automotive News section of Thorr's website, meaning that some sort of cray paradox is likely to take place when this particular posting appears on their website. Watch the video pasted after the break.
Back in mid-2006, Lotus unveiled a flex-fuel E85-capable Exige 265E that was being used as a technology demonstrator. Lotus has used the 265E to learn about optimizing the performance and efficiency of ethanol and flex-fuel engines. At this week's Geneva Motor Show, Lotus is unveiling the next stage of this research with the Exige 270E Tri-Fuel. This one is capable of running on gasoline, ethanol or methanol. Paging Bob Zubrin: your car is ready. With an E85-compatible engine, the process of calibrating the powerplant basically involves a two-dimensional continuum of possible fuels going from gasoline to E85. Adding methanol into the mix adds a third dimension to the map and makes the question much more complex. Detecting the fuel blend and determining the appropriate fuel flow for optimal performance is more difficult in this scenario, but Lotus has done this and upped the power to 270hp.
The other aspect of this project is the work that Lotus is doing with researchers on synthetic methanol as an alternative to bio-ethanol. Lotus describes a method of producing a carbon-neutral methanol fuel by extracting atmospheric carbon dioxide and reacting with hydrogen to produce methanol and water. The idea is that the hydrogen could be produced by renewable means such as solar, wind, or tidal power -- or any number of other methods, for that matter. This has many advantages over using either hydrogen or electricity directly. It eliminates the issue of storing and transporting hydrogen as well as the limitations of batteries. As a liquid fuel, methanol could be relatively easily distributed and used. There is, of course, a big question of the efficiency of the whole cycle. There are also other means of producing methanol and, of course, other synthetic alcohols like butanol.
Last spring Lotus and Siemens VDO announced a plan to collaborate on integrating a variety of technologies from the two companies with the goal of producing a high performance powertrain with reduced CO2 emissions. Since then, Siemens VDO has been subsumed into Continental and the companies have now revealed the results of their work. The partnership took an Opel Astra and through a series of cost-effective technologies achieved a 15% reduction in CO2 emissions. At the same time, torque was increased by 36% and power by 14% relative to the standard 140hp 1.8L Astra.
The four-cylinder engine was replaced by a 1.5L three-cylinder designed by Lotus. The engine has a unique cylinder head with an integrated exhaust manifold. This design leads to easier assembly and reduced manufacturing cost while also improving reliability and performance. Continental's direct fuel injection, variable valve lift and turbocharging have been used to provide the performance levels of a larger engine with reduced fuel consumption and emissions. The new engine is paired up with a mild hybrid system developed by Continental that includes a water-cooled 12kW motor and 60V supercapacitors. The system meets current Euro 5 emissions requirements and has CO2 emissions of just 149g/km.
Group Lotus is a holding company that includes two major business units, Lotus Cars and and Lotus Engineering. The Cars side builds the famed British sports cars like the late Esprit and the current Elise and Exige. Lotus Engineering has worked with almost every major carmaker on various projects over the last several decades. In the past few years they have made a major push into more environmentally-friendly technologies. Everyone on this site likely knows of their involvement with Tesla Motors as well as work that they have done with Zap. The company has now established a group within the Engineering side that will focus on hybrid and electric vehicles. CEO Mike Kimberley has named Phil Barker as Chief Engineer of Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Technologies and he will head up the new group within the Powertrain department. The Lotus press release is after the jump.
Not long ago we posted on Lotus' plans to develop business in Saudi Arabia. Lotus Engineering and Mubadala Development Company have now announced a similar agreement in Abu Dhabi, the capitol of the United Arab Emirates.
As in the case of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi is wondering what to do when they run out of oil to sell. As the announcement from the Lotus and Mubadala states, a company that reduces well-to-wheel CO2 emissions can be a good idea for Abu Dhabi's plans. The company will work with advanced lightweight materials and hybrid technologies
The press release states that this will support "Abu Dhabi's low carbon footprint philosophy" and will "address the environmental imperatives facing the automotive industry globally." You can read it after the jump.
Recently, I wrote a post that talked about Volvo's statement that they were working exclusively with PML (a company that makes in-wheel electric motors). I found this concerning because I thought PML was working with Zap on the Zap-X, a Lotus-designed, affordable, normal-looking electric car. I contacted Zap Communication's Alex Campbell, who checked with Zap's CEO Steve Schneider about Volvo's statements. Zap says they are in a relationship with PML but only on three-wheeled vehicles. As for four-wheeled cars, Zap tried but it looks like PML went with Volvo. Zap has moved on to a Chinese company that they say is not only cheaper than PML but can provide in-wheel electric motors sooner. So there is no confusion, here is exactly what Zap says:
We signed an exclusive agreement with PML on 3-wheelers and at the time were negotiating with them on other vehicles. We have since partnered up with a company in China with rights to their wheel hub motors. The significance is that the wheel hub motor that we have acquired is currently working in application and we believe will be commercially available within a shorter period of time than PML's. It is my understanding that the PML motor has still yet to work in any automotive application. And they are expensive so it would need to be manufactured in China to stay competitive.
Lotus Engineering has at one time or another worked with many of the major auto manufacturers in the world to develop their vehicles. The company is generally highly secretive about the work they do because their clients prefer that customers think they did all the work. However, if you are going to start a car business from scratch, it can help establish some credibility if you have a company like Lotus helping you out. Tesla Motors reached out to Lotus to help them engineer and build the chassis of their Roadster.
Lotus Engineering's new venture also involves a startup located in a non-traditional (at least from a car building perspective) location. The Saudi government has apparently started looking toward the days when petroleum won't be able to supply a steady stream of cash to fund the royal family's quiet and laid-back lifestyle. Aside from pumping fossil fuels out of the ground and processing them, Saudi Arabia has little existing heavy industry. The development center at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology will focus on developing more environmentally friendly technology, with the goal of maximizing the use of the available oil in the least damaging way possible. Although the Saudis clearly have the financial resources to fund this kind of work, given what they spent some of those resources on in the past, it would seem unwise to rely heavily on them for our future.
As you can see in the video above, aluminum is the latest thing in sport car body frames. Ferrari is working with Alcoa on the aluminum "space frame" which weighs just 440 pounds, one third the weight of a steel frame. The way the frame is put together is also very important. Tesla worked with Lotus on a "bonded" aluminum frame that can easily be picked up with one hand. Don't miss the end of the video because I included an odd clip of Tesla showing their battery. Seems Tesla won't let you see inside of their battery because it's "proprietary technology."
"The sample vehicles will be finished at the end of this year or next January. Two or three months after testing, the electric-powered sedan under the Lotus brand will be the first to go into mass production."
Zap has not announced a release date (surprise!) but if things go as Youngman hopes, the Zap-APX could have a release date of Summer 2008; the earliest release date that we know of for any of the new, normal electric cars like the Miles Javlon. While a summer release date would give Zap the honor of being first to market with a normal electric car, the price and range are the more complicated issues. They have not given a price and the range is said to be 350 miles.
Whatever the release, price and range, the Zap-X looks like it will be an amazing car, should it ever be more than vaporware: in-wheel electric motors by PML FlightLink, a top speed of 155 mph, and 0 to 60 MPH in 4.8 seconds. While, I don't think anyone expects all of that to remain true, for an affordable car anyway, I am glad to hear that things are at least currently on track on Youngman's end for the Zap-APX. AutoblogGreen remains skeptical, as you know.
Lotus and Siemens have announced that they will introduce a new engine, called Low CO2, before this year ends. The 3-cylinder 1.5 liter pressure-charged engine will feature the latest technologies from both partners to achieve an engine which can potentially beat hybrids in CO2 emissions.
Siemens' part of the deal consists in a new high pressure fuel pump and centrally-mounted gasoline injectors while Lotus brings in an integrated exhaust manifold design and a cam profile switching system and a turbocompressor. This is called a hybrid engine, according to the press release (included after the jump). The technology will be displayed at the Frankfurt International Autoshow and showcased in a vehicle at the end of this year.
The objective of this new engine is lowering CO2 emissions while "maintaining an engaging driving engine from an affordable set of technologies." The car will also feature weight-saving techniques as well the downsizing trend some automakers are adopting.
We've run across a few reports now that Mercedes may have sought out help from a seemingly unlikely source for technical expertise in the design of their new hybrid system, slated first for their flagship S Class sedan. The source is Lotus, who does not currently offer any hybrid vehicles. Lotus does, however, often collaborate with other car companies, Like Tesla Motors who is relying heavily on Lotus engineering excellence in designing their Roadster. Lotus has also developed other fuel-saving technologies. ZAP has also reportedly beenin touch with Lotus, although we are not really expecting a great deal of new information on that front any time soon.
The hybrid system that Mercedes is working on seems to place the electric motor between the engine and the transmission. The engine choices should be a 268-hp 3.5L V6 using gasoline or a 2.2L 168 hp diesel equipped with the Mercedes Bluetec system to reduce diesel exhaust emissions.
It's speculation time again. Zap has announced that they will be making an announcement next month about another proposed electric vehicle. Based on what we know about Zap, what kind of vehicle might this be? With the $30,000 price target and Zap's limited resources to develop a vehicle, it will almost assuredly be based on something that already exists, much like the Zap-X is supposed to be based on the Lotus APX concept.
That brings up the question of what platform might be available for Zap to use? Based on Zap's history so far and those limited resources the company is likely to lean toward a three wheeler. As Zap's Alex Campbell explained in a video with Matt Kelly of the Next Gear, they like the three wheel configuration because it's classed as a motorcycle and doesn't have to be crashed tested or meet any crash standards.
Continue reading about what might be after the jump.
Lotus is taking their flex-fuel Exige 265E sports car outside of Britain for the first time when they show it at JSAE Show in Yokohama Japan. The 265 hp, E85-capable Exige will be prominently displayed at Lotus' booth. The Toyota-sourced supercharged 1.8L four cylinder has been modified with a new engine management system developed by Lotus to manage the fuel mixture, spark timing and variable valve timing. As a supercharged engine the control can be adapted to take advantage of the higher octane rating ethanol compared to gasoline so that power output is not affected the way it is with a normally aspirated engine.
Along with the Exige, Lotus is also showcasing their Optical Access Active Valvetrain engine which is ideally suited for doing engine research. The engine is equipped with Lotus' camless electro-hydraulic valvetrain that allows for totally variable valve control. Although it's nowhere near suitable yet for a production application due to the power requirements, it allows engine designers to experiment with finding the best valve control profile without having to go through grinding endless camshaft samples. The other major aspect of the engine on display is the Optical Access that allows engineers to look inside the combustion chamber with high speed imaging equipment or Doppler anemometry to observe and measure the combustion process. The Lotus press release is after the jump.
Group Lotus is a holding company that includes two major business units, Lotus Cars and and Lotus Engineering. The Cars side builds the famed British sports cars like the late Esprit and the current Elise and Exige. Lotus Engineering has worked with almost every major carmaker on various projects over the last several decades. In the past few years they have made a major push into more environmentally-friendly technologies. Everyone on this site likely knows of their involvement with Tesla Motors as well as work that they have done with Zap. The company has now established a group within the Engineering side that will focus on hybrid and electric vehicles. CEO Mike Kimberley has named Phil Barker as Chief Engineer of Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Technologies and he will head up the new group within the Powertrain department. The Lotus press release is after the jump.
Not long ago we posted on 
It's speculation time again. Zap has 
