Wednesday, June 21 2006 13:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Goeteburg (Sweden): Volvo has presented a multi-fuel concept research vehicle to cater to the variously developed alternative fuel systems in Europe.

The V70 research vehicle that was on show at the recent Paris Challenge Bibendrum is capable of using five different fuels.

Apart from petrol it can be switched to bio-ethanol, natural gas, bio-methane and hythane drive. Hythane is a combination of 10 percent hydrogen and 90 percent methane.

Developer Mats Moren said the V70 is equipped with a petrol tank limited to 29 litres to cater to the additional alternative fuel systems. The three gases are integrated into one big and two smaller tanks with a total volume of 98 litres.

With all tanks filled, the Volvo has a range of more than 700 km, according to the carmaker.

The concept vehicle is fitted with a 147 kw/200 hp two litre turbo charged engine that accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in 8.7 seconds. The driver can switch from one fuel source to another with no loss to performance.

Moren said the test vehicle complied with all emission norms but a serial production was not being planned at the current stage. At present, the carmaker was focusing on extending the choice of so-called flex-fuel vehicles running on a mixture of ethanol and petrol.

The current S40 and V50 flex-fuel Volvos, so far only available in Sweden, will be available later this year in another six European nations.