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George Parker, president of Fuel Vapour Tech, stands with prototype car at Victoria airport yesterday.
Photograph by : Ray Smith, Times Colonist
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George Parker has taken the expression "running on fumes" literally, designing a fuel delivery system that runs on fuel vapours instead of liquid fuel, allowing him to claim that his prototype vehicle can achieve an estimated 2.6 litres per 100 kilometres on the highway.
Parker's company, Maple Ridge-based Fuelvapor Technologies, has designed a three-wheeled vehicle around a turbocharged 1,500 cc four-cylinder engine that showcases the company's patented fuel vapour technology. His invention raises the air to fuel ratio, which is usually 14.7:1 (14.7 parts of air to one part of gasoline) to 20:1, which helps reduce fuel usage. Parker claims that his invention can produce as much vapour as the engine needs and will eliminate the fuel-injection system found in current vehicles.
The Fuelvapour vehicle, called the Ale, does not give up performance to achieve the high fuel economy. The 180 horsepower Honda engine is capable of 0-100 km/h acceleration times in the five-second range with the top end electronically limited to approximately 220 km/h.
Parker also says that the vehicle produces 75 per cent less CO2 than a conventional engine and does not need a catalytic converter.
The vehicle, which is certified for sale in B.C., can seat two in tandem. The prototype has motorcycle plates on it.
Parker expects to deliver the first batch of completed cars sometime in January 2008. The hand-built cars will cost approximately $75,000. Parker suggests that with mass production, the price can drop to between $30,000 to $40,000.
Parker is entering the car in the Automotive X-Prize competition. The California-based foundation behind the competition is looking to inspire individuals and companies to come up with a super-efficient vehicle that can be produced.
Parker was in Victoria recently in talks with a Sidney-based company exploring the possibly of replacing the vehicle's fibreglass body on a tubular steel frame with one built from carbon fibre.
Switching to the composite material could result in weight savings of between 30 to 40 per cent, which could result in a smaller engine and even better fuel economy.
Entrepreneurs and inventors with concept cars touting super-efficiency are not new, says Lawrence Pitt, a research coordinator with the Institute of Integrated Energy Systems at the University of Victoria.
"Vehicles offering high fuel economy have sex appeal these days, but it takes time and an exotic amount of money to bring the concept to market." says Pitt. While he approaches each new idea with "healthy skepticism," he points out that all the innovators of the modern automobile started out in roughly the same way 100 years ago. "There is always a niche for such cars. The company's success depends on the size of the niche."
©Times Colonist (Victoria) 2007
Source:
http://autos.canada.com/news/story.html?id=9e2c490c-3787-457b-a8a1-9b81e57d545e
