Lotus Spawns Bio Fueled Antarctic Explorer

Autopia has always covered the creative and extremely diverse endeavors of Lotus Cars and their industry spanning engineering arm. Everything from eco friendly sports cars to a loudspeaker device that lessens the
chances of a blind person getting hit by a quiet hybrid. But all of that seems pedestrian and obvious compared to the brand's latest and greatest concept vehicle. Yes, it is a vehicle in the sense that it moves but you wont see it on any roads or race tracks. In fact, unless you head South, as in the South Pole, you likely won't ever see it. The CIV, or Concept Ice Vehicle, was designed specifically for the rigors of traversing Antarctica. It will also make history as the first vehicle to run successfully in Antarctica on bio fuel. Hey, it rains a lot in Hethel. The engineers must have gotten bored.

Check out the video to see this thing in action.

Lotus, a company best known for lightweight sports cars with razor sharp handling, has developed the extreme ice crawler to assist researchers in a 3,000 mile journey across the continent of Antarctica
called the Moon Regan TransAntarctic Expedition. The expedition aims to educate on climate change and raise awareness of how Antarctica’s fate
affects the whole environment. Explorers will conduct scientific experiments
to highlight the environmental issues and live web feeds will allow web goers to follow  their
daily challenges and achievements.

The bio fuel powered CIV is motivated by a large red propeller mounted in the rear. The exposed, pod-like cabin seats one and rests on top of 3
large skis, each sporting independent suspension that will likely come in handy for those pesky Sastruga fields.
Overall, the cold weather concept is about 15 feet long and 15 feet
wide and features a GPS radar system capable of detecting dangerous
crevasses in the ice ahead. The bad ass spiked foot seems a logical tool for braking though chipping away at the ice makes us very nervous when there is bitter cold water underneath. In typical Lotus fashion, the CIV is light. So light that is can be manually
pulled across terrain too tough to drive through. CIV was designed and built by Lotus' Kieron Bradley, a former
chassis designer for two Formula 1 teams, and polar guide Jason de
Carteret.

The CIV aims to safely lead two
other, heavier [5+ tons] support vehicles as the team crosses from one icy
Antarctic coast to another. These six-wheel-drive Science Support
Vehicles (SSVs) are pretty bad ass in their own right and will be used to transport explorers and their equipment. One has already
been used in a previous record-breaking drive to the South
Pole. A hardcore vehicle for the most extreme climate imagineble, the SSVs are powered by a low emission, turbo-charged 7.3 litre diesel V8 and feature fully independent air suspension with 26” of travel on each wheel.

2 heavily modified Ford Econoline Vans, dubbed, Science Support Vehicles [SSV], will follow CIV's lead on the 3,000 mile journey across Antarctica. Each SSV weighs more than 5 tons, utilizes a 20
gear transmission and sports tires that are 44" high and 21" wide.

Pictures from Lotus and Moon Regan TransAntarctic Expedition