World’s First Algae-Fueled Vehicle Takes Test Drive

The world’s first algae fueled vehicle in the form of a Toyota Prius was officially test driven in San Francisco. The Prius, named Algaeus, can use algae as a source of crude power to run. The vehicle, a modified version of Toyota’s Prius, was developed by Sapphire Energy and can get up to 150 miles per gallon on the green fuel. The Sapphire Energy company has hopes to cross the continental U.S. on a mere 25 gallons of the algae-based fuel.

The road trip across the country will raise awareness for the new clean vehicle and generate publicity for the algae-based fuel. Additionally, the campaign is aimed at generating publicity for the upcoming film FUEL, produced by Rebecca Harrell. The film is set to depict the U.S.’ dependency on foreign oil. Although seemingly an overdone topic, Harrell claims that the film FUEL will be inherently different from other eco-films. 

According to the makers of FUEL, the film focuses on the solutions to the problem as opposed to raising questions about the issues. The movie will centre around various methods that may help the U.S transition from foreign oil to alternative sources of green energy.

Algae-based fuel however will not be available in the mainstream any time soon. So far the company aims to focus on algae-based jet fuel and over the course of the next year is planning to produce more than 2 million litres of algae-based diesel. Should the next year’s plans go smoothly, the company plans to produce more than 2 million litres the following year as well. 

For now, the U.S. tour bound Prius runs on a mixture of 5 percent algae fuel. The developers of the Prius, Sapphire Energy, state that it will claim its place as the most eco-friendly fuel-based vehicle to date. The algae-run Prius is the first vehicle to effectively demonstrate that it is possible to use algae in an ordinary car engine.