Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel to enter production?
Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel - Click above for a high-res image gallery
Could the Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel enter production? According to a post on Lotus Enthusiast, that's an entirely real possibility due to interest from Youngman Auto, which is the British automaker's Chinese partner. It seems that the Tri-Fuel was a big hit at the recent Shanghai Motor Show, leading Youngman to submit a formal application to Lotus requesting that the car be built for the Chinese market with the hope that sales could begin sometime before the end of the year.
First unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 2008, The Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel is capable of running on gasoline, ethanol or methanol. In 2007, China became both the world's largest producer and consumer of methanol fuel. Last year, nearly one billion gallons of methanol were blended with gasoline in China, and many retail pumps offer various blends of methanol to consumers. Thanks for the tip, Taylor!
Gallery: Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel
[Source: Lotus Enthusiast]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
LloydChiro 5:37PM (5/06/2009)
I was in Calistoga the other weekend walking around. Somebody had a white Elise parked there. Like a kid, I just had to stand and stare at it for a minute. Such a good car. Amazingly small too. I'm not sure I could fit in one.
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tump 3:19AM (5/07/2009)
I have a red one. It gets an amazing amount of attention. It's really neat because the car isn't expensive or anything "new" to see yet I get yelled at (in a good way) all the time. Kids love it. One homeless guy said it was the nicest Ferrari he'd ever seen... not 40 yards down the street was a real Ferrari. Oh well. I let anybody and everybody sit it in and make vroomy sounds and challenge themselves with getting in an out (some end up on all fours).
It's also fun because people try to get you to race them. It's race bait. I've everything challenge me, including a big rental moving truck and a tractor-trailer that gunned its engine and kept rolling forward. Cars next to me a stoplights want to have conversations during the red light. I think it's the best car I've ever owned -- not in comfort or anything like that, certainly, but it's the most satisfying. And it didn't even come with a single cupholder.
andre lavoie 5:39PM (5/06/2009)
I have, and always will, fail to see the point in developing engines that can run on alcohol blends. While it may increase horsepower, the benefits stop there. Producing enough ethanol and methanol to greatly reduce our oil dependence would put too much of a demand on agriculture, causing food prices to skyrocket (with current production methods anyway). Automanufacturers should focus their attention (and development dollars) elsewhere.
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LloydChiro 5:51PM (5/06/2009)
Is that the case for sugar cane alcohol? Brazil has been doing it for years. I'm not trying to be rhetorical. I'm just wondering.
Will 6:00PM (5/06/2009)
I agree. My family are grain producers and I am very familiar with North American crop production methods. While I submit that our innovative agricultural industry will likely make many advancements when it comes to growing grain, I just don't see a stable balance between our need for fuel and food within the same commodity.
Jeff Banks 7:48PM (5/06/2009)
Why not develop engines to run on alcohol? The cost of hardware is almost negligible and it adds more options down the line even if you never put a drop of biofuel in (BTW Methanol is typically produced from petroleum). He with the most gadgets, wins. Say your car ends up in the Midwest where ethanol is more common and a lot of times cheaper.
I don't support ethanol subsidies. However, although it hasn't been cost efficient to produce like lawmakers have proposed, as a side effect it has definitely improved air quality in dense urban areas like LA. The future isn't a bunch of cars that run ethanol. It's not biodiesel. It's not hydrogen or electricity. It's all of these things.
Or maybe some sort of hybrid-electric biodiesel hydrogen-reactor powered car with solar panels on top. Who knows?
jte 8:17PM (5/06/2009)
Not to mention the already shrinking water resources that need to be used for bio fuel production.
KIB2 6:00PM (5/06/2009)
I really want this car. But I'll settle for my Fiesta!
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Shamdiddly 10:49AM (5/07/2009)
My congratulations to Jeems for making this the 270 instead of the 265!
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Rick 2:52PM (5/07/2009)
Wow, a country that produces it's own fuel. What a concept.
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