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Click above for a high-res gallery of the Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel

We posted about this latest Exige a couple of days ago and just saw it in Geneva. Not a lot different on the outside really besides the paint scheme that helps us remember that this is in fact a Tri-Fuel capable Exige 270E. Even the inside has the green and yellow stripe motif slathered liberally throughout the cockpit. The base Exige was already a great example of how a high performance car could still be environmentally friendly by keeping it light and fun. Now Lotus is showing off their ability to take that concept and turn it up to eleven. Or 270, rather. 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. Anyway, look at the pics and remember that it's fast and fun and feel-good all in one, so ignore the colors if they bother you.

If you want to learn more about this technological marvel, the full press release is after the jump. Be warned however, the release is longer than the car.

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel

While assorted activists, politicians and random individuals carry on about the spectres of global warming, imported oil, CO₂ emissions and other issues that combine to create timetable-free doomsday scenarios, there are people working on potential solutions that do not involve us driving around four-wheeled Segway scooters. That's right: the "dreaded" internal combustion engine might yet provide the answer -- or at least an answer. And because Lotus is the entity searching for the answer in this particular case, the end result might not only be green -- it looks ridiculously fun, too.

The car you see here is the Geneva-bound Lotus Exige 270E Tri-Fuel concept, the successor to 2006's Exige 265E, which made 265 horses running on E85. The 270E goes a step further. Not only can it run on gasoline or ethanol, it achieves its peak output -- 270 horsepower and 184 lb-ft -- on methanol, hence the Tri-Fuel label. Incidentally, that power figure is the highest yet for an Exige coming out of Hethel. Even more interesting, however, is Lotus' research into producing carbon-neutral synthetic methanol. You can read about it in detail after the jump, but in summary, the process involves using atmospheric CO₂ and reacting it with hydrogen created via renewable electrical power to create methanol. Liquid methanol could be transported and distributed much in the same way gasoline is now, making for a feasible infrastructure if the idea were to take hold somewhere down the line.

Lotus is also hunting for solutions involving EVs, as well as optimizing the traditional gasoline-powered ICE through its Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Group. One must admit, however, that the idea of a sustainable, synthetic, carbon-neutral fuel driving internal combustion engines with the same levels of power we currently enjoy is the equivalent of having your cake and eating it. Press on, Lotus.


[Source: Lotus via AutoblogGreen]