CO₂ emissions and environmental pollution are serious issues, garnering placement on the front page of every major newspaper in recent months. No other industry is feeling the strain of eco-awareness more than the car industry, but Saab believes it has found the solution for guilt-free motoring, the BioPower 100 concept.

The Saab BioPower 100 concept is the company's first dedicated bio-ethanol powered vehicle. Building on the Saab 9-5 BioPower estate car revealed and subsequently sold in the European market in 2005, the BioPower 100 concept employs a 2-litre in-line four-cylinder engine optimised to run on 100 per cent bio-ethanol (E100).

With the high octane ethanol fuel streaming into Saab's turbocharged engine, power output soars to a claimed 300bhp (or 150bhp per litre). This is a substantial increase over the previous 2.0t BioPower which ran on E85 - a mixture of 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent petrol - and only produced 180bhp.

Torque levels have also been raised to a claimed 295lb.ft for the BioPower 100 concept and the new fuel is said to enable the optimised engine to propel the car to 62mph in 6.6 seconds. 50-70mph stints in fifth gear are alleged to be accomplished in an equally impressive 8.2 seconds.

Saab claims the boost in power has been possible through modifications to the engine management system and internal components, allowing the use of greater boost pressure with a raised compression ratio.

The BioPower 100 concept illustrates how a small, high output engine can deliver high energy savings with ethanol fuel. With the car's impact on the environment being a top priority in today's car buying market, the 9-5 2.0t BioPower estate has been selling quite well in the company's home market of Sweden, with over 10,000 9-5 BioPower vehicles sold in 2006.

Saab currently has two BioPower engines available for sale in the UK: the Saab 9-5 2.0t BioPower and the Saab 9-5 2.3t BioPower. Both cars enjoy substantially-reduced fossil CO₂ emissions and benefit from power increases when running on bio-ethanol E85 compared to their petrol-powered counterparts. And since the cars are flex-fuel vehicles, they can also be topped up with conventional petrol if a bio-ethanol filling station is not available when needed.

It's no surprise that Saab is leading the way toward the development of bio-ethanol technology; Sweden is one of the largest bio-ethanol producers in Europe. The fuel is produced commercially from agricultural crops and cellulostic materials such as forest waste. Saab claims ethanol use in cars can reduce fossil CO₂ emissions by up to 80 per cent when you take into consideration the whole cycle.

The only major drawback to running bio-ethanol is a reduction in range, as the fuel is consumed at a more rapid rate than petrol. But if the UK is going to meet the 120g/km limit proposed by the EU by 2012, the Saab BioPower 100 concept shows a relatively easy solution.

Eric Gallina - 23 Feb 2007