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It can reach a top speed of about 130
mph — was unveiled on the U.K. television technology show
“Tomorrow’s World” and is being displayed at auto shows around
the world.
The car runs on biogas
generated from fermented organic waste as one of its fuel supplies
— the other fuel is regular gasoline. The kitchen and garden waste
produces a gas that contains about 60 percent methane and 40 percent
carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide and other impurities have to be
removed by filtration, but then the methane gas is compressed and
used to power the car.
Rinspeed claims that carbon dioxide emissions from the car are
between 60 percent and 90 percent less than a conventional
gasoline-powered car — about the same amount of carbon dioxide
that the decomposing vegetables give
off.
The new technology behind the car was developed by Kompogas AG in
Glattbrugg, Switzerland, and is already in use in several factories
around the world. A Kompogas plant with a yearly capacity of 20,000
metric tons produces the energy equivalent of 370,000 gallons of
gasoline.
Swiss engineering company Esoro
was hired as general contractor for the entire Advantige R project.
The car has a highly aerodynamically efficient design with the
driver sitting at the center of the vehicle. So the driver can see,
the rearview mirrors have been replaced by three color cameras whose
images are transmitted to LCD monitors in the cockpit.
The driving cockpit itself actually leans into turns. “This
unique combination of automobile, motorcycle and race car cries out
for the endless hairpin curves of Mediterranean coastal roads — a
truly special thrill and treat,” says Rinspeed chief executive
Frank Rinderknecht.
According to Rinspeed, “the
Advantige R is not just a mere showpiece. It is a cradle for new
ideas and technologies and a first glimpse of the new exclusive
tuning program Advantige Audi Individual of Rinspeed GmbH.” That
said, there’s only one Advantige R in the world right
now.
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