Lotus Engineering unveiled the ethanol-powered Lotus Exige 265E. Lotus has produced not only an environmentally-friendly Lotus Exige, but Lotus says the car is probably the world’s fastest ethanol vehicle, and the most powerful of the Lotus Exige made. The “265″ in the Exige 265E comes from the car’s 265-hp, which is 25-hp more than the Sport Exige 240R, and the letter ‘E’ stands for the E85 ethanol fuel.

The 265E is motivated by a version of the VVTL-i supercharged and intercooled four-cylinder engine from the Exige S, modified to run on E85, resulting in a 0-60 mph in 3.88 seconds and 0-100 mph in 9.2 seconds. Modifications to the engine include changes to the fuel system, recalibrated engine management system, larger fuel injectors, and two additional fuel injectors at the supercharger inlet to provide extra fuel under hard acceleration and cooling of the intake air before combustion.

“We wanted to prove the point that green sportscars can also be very high performing sportscars,” said Geraint Castleton-White, Head of Powertrain for Lotus Engineering.

The next stage of the project will include allowing the car to run on multiple fuel types, rather than just E85. Unfortunately, there are no plans for production.

More images after the jump.

## Source: Group Lotus ##

Posted in: Lotus, Concept Cars, Sports/GTs, Alternative Fuel
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