Future Vehicle Technologies to Debut 'eVARO' Plug-In at SEMA Performance Show
By John O'Dell October 30, 2009
SEMA, the paean to power, where exhaust fumes are perfume and green is a paint color, not a philosophy, is changing just a bit.
Extended-range plug-in hybrid eVARO three-wheeler prototype will debut at SEMA show in Las Vegas next week.
----------
And this year, as last, there will be a display at the Las Vegas venue dedicated to the pursuit of fuel economy - the Progressive Automotive X Prize competition that's seeking a commercially viable 100-miles-per-gallon (or the alt-fuel equivalent) passenger vehicle.
The X Prize stand undoubtedly will feature a few of the contest entries, and is staging at least one vehicle debut, the three-wheel eVARO from Future Vehicle Technologies, the British Columbia development team that did last year's standout Ale concept, which boasted 92 mpg fuel economy running with a gasoline engine.
FVT - formerly known as Fuel Vapor Technologies, says the eVARO (electric Vehicle with Advanced Regeneration Onboard) is a Volt-like extended-range, plug-in hybrid that runs on an electric drive system that's kept going by an on-board gas engine-generator when the battery charge runs down.
It packs the powertrain into the Ale's lightweight, arrowhead-shape body and, according the FVT, has a top speed of 130 MPH and can return the equivalent of 135 MPG in mixed city-highway driving.
The car is one of the 43 finalists in the $10 million Automotive X Prize and, the folks at FVT say, will be their first production car, someday.
We're just happy to see the gospel of green being carried into the hall of horsepower. The message is, after all, that helping the environment doesn't have to suck the fun out of motoring.
The SEMA show, which isn't open to the public, runs next week - Nov. 3 through Nov. 6 - and, of course, Edmunds Inside Line will be there.
LEAVE A COMMENT