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The Fuel Vapor Car

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Check it. . .

http://www.fuelvaporcar.com/html/the_car.html

Acceleration is less than the Tesla, but the cornering ability is probably a lot higher.

The use of vaporized fuel is interesting because it's the same technique used by all those semi-mythical 100 MPG (or 200 MPG!) carburetors in the past. I say semi-mythical because they always really existed but never really produced the kind of results that were claimed. The efficiency gains from bolting one of those vapor systems onto an ordinary engine, in an ordinary car, wasn't significant.

For maximum efficiency a three-wheeled vehicle is hard to beat, and the handling performance can also be very good. This is why the Silence is going to smoke the Tesla Roadster and possibly even beat the Wrightspeed X1 on a race track.

From the article:

The “alé” runs on regular gasoline, and easily achieves the level of “super low” emissions with a 30% reduction in CO2. Even more impressive is the fact that all the data to date has been gathered without a catalytic converter.

I'm not sure what's impressive about that, since catalytic converters have nothing to do with CO2 emissions. To be sold and driven on public roads it will need a catalytic converter, and that will reduce its efficiency. (But not much, because today's catalytic converters are quite good.)
 
...since catalytic converters have nothing to do with CO2 emissions. To be sold and driven on public roads it will need a catalytic converter, and that will reduce its efficiency. (But not much, because today's catalytic converters are quite good.)

It certainly does. I'm sure you already know but an incomplete burn produces more CO (Carbon Monoxide) & HC (Hydrocabons), which are harmful to humans, while a complete burn produces more CO2 (Carbon Dioxide), which are less harmful to humans. A catalytic converter 'burns' those unburned hydrocarbons and produces more CO2. A cleaner engine (conventional ICE) will actually emit more CO2.

A three-way catalytic converter has three simultaneous tasks: (wikipedia.org article)

1. Reduction of nitrogen oxides to nitrogen and oxygen: 2NOx → xO2 + N2
2. Oxidation of (non greenhouse gas, but toxic) carbon monoxide to less harmful (greenhouse gas) carbon dioxide: 2CO + O2 → 2CO2
3. Oxidation of unburnt carcinogenic hydrocarbons (HC) to carbon dioxide and water: 2CxHy + (2x+y/2)O2 → 2xCO2 + yH2O

Emission laws never stated anything about having to have a catalytic converter or any other emissions related gadget. In fact, cars can run without them as long as they pass emission levels. Most companies just have them "just in case," but it is more desirable for a company to have less. Less means more economical (cheap) and less weight in the car to better achieve CAFE's standards. If a car had to have them to be sold and driven on public roads then the Tesla Roadster has to have them as well. I may be wrong, and if I am, could someone point me to the law that states this?

Emissions laws were put in place because we were choking ourselves with our cars. We still are, just not as fast. If it were not for emissions restrictions our cars could go further on a gallon/liter.

CO2 is the inevitable byproduct of combusting carbon based fuels. The only way to reduce CO2 is to burn less.

CO2 was not considered a pollutant a while back until this greenhouse warming debate. CO2 is not the only polluting byproduct of combustion. And, again, the only way to reduce pollution is to burn less and we know where the Tesla Roadster fits in there.
 
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Thanks for explaining that, Takumi. I've never studied the inner workings of catalytic converters, so I didn't know. I just assumed that an ICE couldn't meet today's emissions standards without one. According to the information on their website, the fuel vapor car will not need one.