Nathalie Is A Methane Powered Car That Recharges In 3 Minutes Flat, But Is It A Practical Car?

The most noteworthy problem with electric vehicles (EVs) is the long charging time required for their batteries. Several solutions have come up over time, but this solution from the Geneva Motor Show is quite peculiar.

Nathalie is a 2-door sports coupe, courtesy of Roland Gumpert of Audi Quattro and Apollo fame. Needless to say, the car is electric but what's peculiar about it is the fact that it depends on methanol to charge its batteries.

The idea was to cut down on the charging time required by the car by using Methanol fuel cells. Simply pour in methanol and recharge it.

Nathalie (Image: Roland Gumpert)

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Nathalie is a 2-door sports coupé that employs electric motors over each of its wheels. The all wheel drive results in a total of 800 hp that is able to propel the car to top speeds of 190 mph (306 km/h).

It's built with a carbon chassis over a chrome-moly tube frame. Nathalie has plenty of aerodynamic bits for the required downforce at its top speed. And as can be guessed from a Roland Gumpert make, it sports quite impressive interiors, too.

Now that we know about the car, it only makes sense to make sense of its existence. One big plus, and probably the only one here, is that the methane fuel cells in the car will be help bring down the charging time required by it in comparison with the regular electric vehicle offerings.

Methane Fuel Cell in Nathalie (Image: Roland Gumpert)

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To back up this USP, consider that Methanol is roughly one-third the price of petrol and is much easier to handle than Hydrogen which is required in the case of Hydrogen fuel cells. And as long as a 3-minutes refill is able to give you an 850 plus kms range, the car is an aces for its purpose.

How does it charge so fast?

But get this, the methanol fuel cell used in the car produces CO2 as a by product of its chemical reaction. Now that beats the whole point of switching to an electric car from a gasoline one in the first place.

Also, where exactly will the users get the Methanol from? As it is, this is a fight already being fought for the EVs in the shape of charging facilities. Going for a vehicle like the Nathalie would only mean shifting the fight to a more portable fuel but then again, the arrangements will have to be made.

Nathalie (Image: Roland Gumpert)

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So while the idea of refilling your car with methanol might sound appealing, it is not very practical at this stage and if in case we need to help the EVs with their recharging times, an alternate way will have to be considered.