Koenigsegg is always pushing technical boundaries in the auto industry. Back in 2017, the Koenigsegg Agera RS broke a new production car speed record. The Swedish automaker also created the world's first cam-less engine known as the Freevalve and the transmission-less Direct Drive system for the Regera. What is Koenigsegg planning next to shake up the auto industry?
During a recent interview with Bloomberg, Christian von Koenigsegg revealed how the company is experimenting with ultra-high-voltage battery packs and biofuel from semi-active volcanoes to create carbon-neutral hypercars. Yes, you read that right, Koenigsegg hypercars could be powered by volcanos. Only Koenigsegg could come up with a solution as bonkers as this to achieve carbon neutrality. "So there is this technology from Iceland, it was invented there, where they cap the CO2 emittance from semi-active volcanoes and convert that into methanol," Christian von Koenigsegg explained.
"And if you take that methanol and you power the plants that do the conversion of other fuels and then power the ship that transports those fuels to Europe or the U.S. or Asia, wherever it goes, you put the fuel completely CO2-neutral into the vehicle." Vulcanol produces 90 percent less in carbon emissions than fossil fuels do. Christian von Koenigsegg added that a car running on this fuel with the "correct aftertreatment systems" can "clean up the particles in the atmosphere while you're using the engine."
To help reduce emissions, Koenigsegg recently hired former Tesla executive Evan Hortesky. Koenigsegg has already started embracing electrification with the hybrid Regera hypercar and more recently with the Gemera, which utilizes a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-three engine and three electric motors to produce a combined 1,700 horsepower.
However, Koenigsegg is reluctant to build a fully electric hypercar since the extra weight from the large battery packs "goes against the sporty nature of the car." Instead, Koenigsegg insists the company is "propulsion agnostic" and will "mix and match whatever makes the most sense at each given time and for each model."
"We're not stuck in traditional combustion technology. The technology we develop there is really next-generation beyond anything else I've seen out in the marketplace, and also next-generation electrification, and combining these technologies is an interesting way to make our product stand out and be as competitive as we can with as little environmental footprint as possible."