We first heard news of the Lotus Ice Vehicle back in 2008 and today, Winston Wong Bio-Inspired is announced to take a trip in Antarctica. Actually, the Lotus Ice Vehicle is the lead vehicle of the Moon Regan Transantarctic Expedition which will cross the cross the Antarctic continent in November and December 2010.
The Lotus Ice Vehicle is powered by biofuel and its engineers say it can withstand the coldest, windiest, driest conditions on Earth. The Lotus Ice Vehicle will help achieve two goals. The first one is to help researchers at Imperial College London gather useful data on vehicle emissions, the performance of bio-fuel and human performance under extreme conditions. The second one that the right motorized vehicles,
and bio-fuel, can operate in the Antarctic.
The Winston Wong Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle weighs 700kgs and is powered by a Rotax 914 engine and a three-blade variable-pitch propeller. Each of its skis has an independent suspension system.
The expedition in which the Lotus Ice Vehicle will take part is sponsored by Professor Winston Wong, a Taiwanese business leader.
Lotus Ice Vehicle video 1:
Lotus Ice Vehicle video 2:
