Morgan Revs Up Green Sports Car March 03, 2008

Read more Cars , Entertainment , Gizmodo UK , Motoring , Technology

Eco-friendly sports cars are the rage these days and pretty soon they’ll go on sale – that’s the theory anyhow. At this week’s Geneva Motor Show, the Morgan Lifecar will strut its eco-stuff while managing to look rather good at the same time.

The Lifecar is hydrogen-powered, based around the Morgan Aero-8 roadster and capable of hitting 90mph.

The packed fuel cells are capable of propelling the car from 0-60mph in around 7 seconds and it has a range of around 250 miles on a single tank of hydrogen.

This zero-emission car is also quiet and the only thing pumping out of it is some water vapour from the exhaust. To counter for the weight of the battery cells, the frame is aluminium and the seats are made from wood. A consortium of UK companies and universities have had a hand in designing the car, which has cost around £1.9m in funding, some from the government.

"Figures suggest the car should be capable of doing 0-60 [miles per hour] in about seven seconds," said Matthew Parkin of classic sports car manufacturer Morgan. "The basic concept was to build an entertaining and fun sports car that would act as a showcase for the technology and would deliver 150 miles to the gallon. Everything else has tumbled out from that.”

Still, don’t expect to be able to buy this anytime soon. If you want something green and sporty sooner rather than later, you might want to check out the Tesla P1 Roadster.-Martin Lynch

[BBC]

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