Neil CORBETT

Abbotsford News

Two hundred and seventy-five miles per gallon?

The fuel efficiency numbers were so unbelievable they had to be verified by an independent source. Enter the University of the Fraser Valley.

Future Vehicles Technologies (FVT) of Maple Ridge is part of the $10-million international competition known as the Automotive X Prize. The goal of the competition is to design and race a modern vehicle that gets at least 100 mpg (2.35 litres/100 km).

Working with a gas-driven car, the Ale, the small research and development company achieved impressive results. They were named one of the 10 most promising entries in the X Prize competition by Popular Mechanics magazine. Out of 111 entries from 20 different countries, that’s not bad. But that was almost 200 mpg ago.

FVT had to abandon the Ale, which vaporized fuel being fed to the engine.

“We reached 92 (mpg or 2.56 l/100km), and we hit a brick wall,” said Mike Zimmerman, the company’s director of logistics.

They kept much of their old car technology, but switched to electric power, using lithium ion batteries from Korea, with their own made-in-the-Valley boost.

With the new car, dubbed the eVaro, they hit an astounding 275 mpg (0.85 l/100km) in the city, and 165 mpg (1.43 l/100km) on the highway.

They needed a third party to verify their amazing results.

“We knew nobody else would believe us,” said Zimmerman.

The developers worked with UFV’s trades and technical centre staff to conduct tests, and the results were confirmed.

“The eVaro was driven through a series of test passes at incremental speeds through the normal driving range and each pass was monitored using on-board data acquisition systems,” said UFV electronics instructor Randy Kelley.

“When analyzed, the numbers demonstrated truly impressive outcomes.”

This fuel efficiency does not come in a vehicle that gets passed by guys on bicycles. This is a flashy sports car with gull-wing doors, capable of a maximum speed of 217 km/h, and that leaps from zero to 96 km/h in five seconds.

“Once the serious testing was out of the way, the team at FVT allowed me to take the car out on the road myself,” said Kelley. “Not only does it deliver some very impressive numbers, it also falls into the ‘wow’ category of fun to drive.”

The fuel efficiency is amazing. Zimmerman said it costs $13 to fill the eVaro. (It uses a gasoline engine to keep the batteries charged.)

In his own personal, traditional vehicle, that gets him about 120 km. In the eVaro it translates into 1,600 km.

At 20 km/h the vehicle uses the same amount of power as a toaster.

Zimmerman said FVT is not in the business of manufacturing cars. And, really the value is not in creating the perfect eVaro.

“It’s more so what’s in the car,” he said, explaining the goal is to win the X Prize, and then sell their technology to an automaker.

However, they have heard from a manufacturer that the cars could be built and retailed for about $43,000.

“This is all theory now, but it’s going to happen, and it’s going to happen at a good clip,” Zimmerman said. “It’s about clean tech, and it’s about saving the environment.”