Fiat Automòveis, the Brazilian arm of Fiat Auto, and the Turin-based Centro Ricerche Fiat have presented Fiat's latest commitment to sustainable motoring, the zero-emission Palio Elétrico prototype.

This new vehicle is the just latest in a long line of ground-breaking technological advances to be implemented in Brazil, Fiat Auto's biggest centre of operations outside their Italian home base, initiatives that have most recently included the SFS FlexFuel sensor and TetraFuel technology. Both these production options were demonstrated to European consumers when they were presented in Paris earlier this month at the 8th Michelin Challenge Bibendum.

The SFS (Software FlexFuel Sensor) was developed by Magnetti Marelli's Brazilian engineering arm and has pushed further forward the implementation of 'dual fuel' engine technology. SFS is a powerful calculation software, which is placed in the car's ECU. It identifies and quantifies the combination of alcohol and gasoline in the tank, using information received from sensors installed throughout the fuel injection system, among them the Lambda sensor, engines temperatures, speed, rotation and knock sensors. Based on these reams of information, the software determines the exact amount of fuel that needs to be injected in the engine and also the optimal spark plug timing to ignite the mixture.

Fiat Automòveis has followed up SFS by introducing TetraFuel into full production earlier this month in Brazil, another world first and a new technology which again was developed by the Fiat Group's Magneti Marelli division. The TetraFuel system provides within a single ECU an extension of the fuel management capability now to four different fuel types, thus enabling a vehicle to be fuelled with a choice of either gasoline, gasohol (a blend of gasoline mixed with 22 percent alcohol), pure alcohol or CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). The Brazilian new automobile market is currently seeing growing demand for sustainable and cheaper alternatives to the conventional petrol and diesel engined options.
 

This is being driven not least by the recent escalation in global oil prices, has now led Fiat Automòveis to develop in conjunction with Centro Ricerche Fiat (CRF) their first zero-emission vehicle, the Fiat Palio Elétrico, which they fully expect will become a mobile laboratory to push sustainable technological ideas towards market realisation. Other partners in the project include Itaipu Hidrelétrica and Swiss company KWO.

The ambitious targets for the project set by Fiat Automòveis was to create a totally ecologically-friendly car which develops zero-emissions and also low noise output. Brazil is an ideal geographical location to create an electric-powered vehicle as electricity supply is cheap and abundant, and since a significant proportion of electricity is generated by hydroelectric schemes, it can also be a socially-responsible form of power. The Palio Elétrico is 100 percent electric powered, and posses an engine with a 15 Kw (20CV) power output and maximum torque of 50 Nm (5.1 kgm). Maximum speed is a very respectable 105 km/h while weight is 600 kilograms. A nickel battery is situated in the bottom of the boot which gives the car a range of 120 kilometres. The Palio's conventional gearlever had been replaced by a new control that offers a choice of three positions: drive, neutral and reverse while new gauges on the centre console denote the battery's remaining life and its load.

The "Brazil Classics Fiat Show - 17th National Meeting of Old Cars" was the chosen venue last week to present and demonstrate in action the new Fiat Palio Eletrico prototype for the first time in public. Organized for the Veteran Car Club of the Minas Gerais region, the event took place from 14th-17th of June at The Gold Mines Great Hotel and Thermas de Araxá and it saw more than 300 rare cars gathering up to take part.