Geneva preview: Giugiaro Vadho uses BMW hydrogen V12 engine
As promised earlier, here is the second of the super high performance cars that will be shown at the upcoming Auto Show in Geneva. As I said earlier, each of these vehicles was previewed on Autoblog yesterday, and you can find the link to their coverage here. So, without further ado, I present the Giugiaro Vadho concept. This machine does not run on ethanol, as does the Koenigsegg CCXR we showed you earlier; instead it relys on hydrogen. While ethanol's contribution to alternative fuels is debatable, it's power output is not, which is why there is increased interest in its use as a racing or high performance fuel. Hydrogen, on the other hand, has debatable merit on both counts. A hydrogen based engine makes much less power than it's gasoline-fueled sibling does. This fact is evident when you consider that this vehicle uses the same engine as the V12 BMW Hydrogen 7, which makes 260 HP as compared to the 438 HP it makes running on gasoline. The upside is that you can switch to gasoline at the flick of a switch in the Hydrogen 7. There was no mention made of whether this option is available on the Giugiaro Vadho. The downside is that you will be emitting much more harmful exhaust while running the engine on the higher power of gasoline. So, if you were able to buy the Vadho, which you currently cannot, and you lived near a hydrogen filling station like this one, then you can do your part to help the environment.
Other interesting features of the concept Vadho include the seating arrangement. The driver sits in front of the passenger as in a jet fighter. The engine sits to the right of the occupants. Watch for further coverage of this vehicle when our friends from Autoblog visit Geneva.
[Source: Autoblog]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris M 6:31PM (3/03/2007)
The bizzare design makes an odd sort of sense - it gives plenty of room for the HUGE hydrogen storage tank needed! When a car is nearly half fuel storage tank, some design compromises are needed.
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