Lotus Engineering’s Gary Haddon paid a visit to pioneering Leicestershire-based Air Fuel Synthesis (AFS) this week to learn more about the company’s green fuel solution.
Taking along with him a prototype Lotus Exige 270E Tri-fuel car, the marketing manager of the luxury car brand discovered more about the company’s liquid fuel which is made using carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen from water.
As Lotus Engineering experiments with new fuels, its Exige-based prototype was developed to run on any mix of gasoline, bioethanol and methanol. Green fuel alternatives such as AFS’ artificial hydrocarbon fuel could therefore be just what the car maker needs to power its new model.
Despite its alternative fuel use, the Exige 270e Tri-Fuel car is no compromised car, in fact it is the most powerful road version yet of the Exige with a 0-60 mph time of 3.88 seconds, a top speed of 158 mph and 270 hp.
Lotus took the car to visit AFS Chairman, Professor Tony Marmont, at his Leicestershire home to discuss his pioneering process of making sustainable methanol mix fuel from air and water.
The AFS system uses renewable energy to capture carbon dioxide and water from the air, electrolyses the water to make hydrogen and reacts the carbon dioxide and hydrogen together to make hydrocarbon fuels. The AFS process is driven by renewable electricity to make the whole process carbon neutral.
The method has already been proven to work in a laboratory, and the manufacture is now being tested by AFS in industrial conditions in Teeside.
Gary Haddon, Marketing manager for Lotus Engineering said: "Tony approached Lotus engineering about his alternative fuels project and we see it as a way forward for producing alterative carbon neutral fuels for vehicles."
Tony Marmont of AFS said: "It was brilliant to see the Lotus prototype car in action here. We hope that when our production of carbon-neutral liquid fuel is proven on an industrial scale in September, we can rely on more global companies investing in necessary fuel alternatives."
He continued: "When world supplies of oil run short of demand because of the predicted rise in population in around twenty years’ time, ensuring a sustainable alternative is crucial. We are proving air fuel synthesis as that alternative."
