
The
Swedish company has developed a new Multi-Fuel prototype car, and the five
cylinder, 2.0L, 200 bhp engine can run on five different fuels. Besides regular
gasoline, you can fill the tank with bioethanol E85, which is made up of 85%
bioethanol and 15% gas, natural gas, biomethane, and hythane, which is 90%
methane and 10% hydrogen. Volvo has designed the car in recognition that there
is likely not a single replacement for fossil fuels, and that different
solutions are more readily available in different areas.
The Multi-Fuel vehicle contains one large and two smaller tanks of totally 98
litres for gaseous fuels (hythane, biomethane and CNG), and one 29-litre tank
for liquid fuels (bioethanol E85 and petrol). The fuel tanks are fitted neatly
under the luggage compartment floor, which means that full loading capacity is
preserved. Two fuel fillers are used to fill up all five fuel types, one for
gaseous and one for liquid fuels. The engine automatically adjusts itself to the
right blend of gaseous or liquid fuels. To switch between fuel types, the driver
simply presses a button. The Multi-Fuel has a motor effect of 200 bhp and
accelerates quickly up to speed, 0-100 km/h in 8.7 seconds. This makes the car
more responsive and smooth to drive. - The Multi-Fuel is turbo charged to
achieve performance on any of the five different fuel types.