Geely will be participating in the Dakar Rally which starts in a few days time, and the amazing thing is that the vehicle which driver Han Wei will be using is a methanol-powered race machine from Geely Auto. There is no indication what the car is based on, except that it is ‘newly designed’. Yay.

From a pure performance standpoint there is no advantage in running a race car that burns methanol other than it is more environmentally friendly. But perhaps that is exactly the point. Geely has been researching and developing methanol-powered vehicles for a while now, and is a leader in this sector of technology. It does not only involve the motoring world too – in 2015, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group invested in Iceland’s Carbon Recycling International (CRI). The latter has developed sustainable tech that turns excess C02 captured from power plants and other sources into methanol and commercialising this renewable energy.

Geely Auto is also an integral participant in China’s “Methanol Vehicle Implementation Plan” in which they have provided over 90 per cent of pilot methanol vehicles used since 2012. Geely Auto’s methanol-powered taxis have been in operation for over five years, travelling nearly 1 billion kilometres.