Trans Antarctic Expedition to put Concept Ice Vehicle through its paces.
The upcoming Trans Antarctic Expediton, lead by Andrew Regan and Andrew Moon, will be putting the newly developed Concept Ice Vehicle through its paces - the CIV is a ground breaking bio-fueled vehicle capable of traversing Antarctica’s extreme conditions.
The craft was designed by Formula 1 chassis designer Kieron Bradley at Lotus Engineering in the UK to be both lightweight, robust, and efficient.
It achieves this by travelling on three skis and relying on a rear mounted, bio-fuelled propeller for power. It also has a spiked “foot” fitted underneath for emergency stops and can operate in temperatures as low as minus 72C. The CIV’s special lightweight design means that it can be man hauled across rough terrain.
As well as being efficient in the harshest of conditions, the CIV is also eco friendly. The E85 bio-ethanol fuel that it runs on can reduce emissions by about 70 per cent compared with ordinary petrol.
As Regan explains: “One of the key aims of our expedition is to raise awareness of Antarctica’s environmental importance and the challenges that the region faces.
The CIV that Lotus Engineering has designed for us needed to be able to both cope with the region’s extreme conditions and also to be environmentally friendly.”
Beyond this the CIV will also be critical to ensuring the teams safety. Fitted with an Ice Penetrating Radar (IPR) the CIV will travel ahead of the two heavier Science Support Vehicles (SSV) and scan the terrain for hidden crevasses.
