E-85 Lotus Exige Lightweight Sports Car

An ethanol-powered prototype version of the Lotus Exige, dubbed the 265E, is now the most powerful road version of Lotus’ lightweight sports car. Running on E85 – a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline – the Exige 265E produces 264 horsepower and 184 lbs-ft of torque, increases of 46 hp and 25 lbs-ft over the standard gasoline-powered Exige S. With a total weight of 2050 pounds, that power results in some staggering performance numbers: 0-60 mph in 3.88 seconds, 0-100 mph in 9.2 seconds, and on to a top speed of 158 mph, according to the factory.

Lotus plans to further develop the 265E prototype to make it a flexible-fuel vehicle, capable of running on gasoline or ethanol, followed by a multi-fuel capability with other biofuels such as bio-methanol and bio-butanol. For now, however, Lotus claims the Exige 265E is purely a research vehicle, and the company has no intention of putting the car into production or selling the conversion as an aftermarket kit. Instead, Lotus says it built the Exige 265E simply to show that going green doesn’t mean going slow. We’re convinced.