From the green hills of Scandinavia
(Credit:
Candace Lombardi/CNET Networks)
This car is not as boring as it looks.
As we have written about at length, ethanol fuel is gaining momentum as a possible alternative to gas.
The Saab BioPower E100 concept vehicle, which is at the New York Auto Show, runs on E100 (100 percent bioethanol fuel). The BioPower E100 would be a turbocharged 2.0 liter engine that offers 300 horsepower and runs on bioethanal.
While the BioPower E100, which debuted at the Geneva Auto Show, is only a concept, Saab does sell the Saab 9-5 BioPower, which runs on E85.
The Saab 9-5 BioPower, which is sold in Europe, is part of Saab's flex-fuel lineup.
Flex-fuel vehicles, are just what they sound like: vehicles that are flexible regarding the kind of fuels they can use, so you can still fill up on ordinary gas if you find yourself in a place where ethanol is not an option.
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. E-mail her at candacelombardi@gmail.com. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. 
