The recent trend in making super high-performance cars with amazing efficiency continues with the Alé; a creation from FuelVapor Technologies. The Alé (pronounced “alay”) will be entered into the “Automotive X-Prize” competition for the most fuel-efficient production vehicle.
With a 180 horsepower Honda engine and suspension and Porsche steering mechanisms, the 3-wheeled Alé hits 0-60 in under 5 seconds, runs the quarter-mile in 12.9 seconds, and easily hits 1.7 G’s in the corner on street tires.
“I drove it hard at the track for 4 solid hours, throwing it into corners and accelerating fast. The car’s performance is spectacular. After all that hard-driving, we only went through $10 in gas.” said Brad Zimmerman, head tech for the company.
The real innovation here is the fuel vapor system. As the name suggests, this process allows the engine to run on “fuel vapors” rather than liquid fuel, allowing very low fuel consumption. With only a 10-gallon fuel tank, the car can drive from Vancouver, BC to San Francisco, CA without filling up – over 15 hours of driving.
For a car of this type, the front looks great but gets kind of silly-looking toward the rear, almost looking like they forgot about the back half. This is no doubt due to the 3-wheeled nature of the Alé, but it still looks funny. No price has been set, but the car will be built in a limited number over the next five years, going into production in 2012.
View the official site: FuelVaporCar.com
