The Concept Ice Vehicle or CIV was a bio-fuelled, propeller-powered vehicle that was developed for the Andrew Regan / Andrew Moon bid to cross the Antarctic in 2009. The Expedition was rescheduled to November 2010 and the Ice Vehicle was re-engineered and renamed the Winston Wong Bio-Inspired Ice Vehicle BIV. Professor Winston Wong is the sponsor of the Moon Regan Transantarctic Expedition 2010.[1] The Expedition has several key objectives: to show that the right motorised vehicles can operate successfully and efficiently in the Antarctic, to successfully complete a transantarctic crossing and to help researchers at Imperial College London gather useful data on vehicle emissions, the performance of biofuels and human performance under extreme conditions.[2] Few ground vehicles have, to date, been successful there; researchers who work across the continent tend to rely on air travel, which may be more environmentally damaging.
The CIV was originally designed and engineered by Kieron Bradley - chassis designer for the Lotus Formula One team. Later changes and modifications were undertaken by the Expedition team and engineers at Imperial College London.
The CIV underwent pre-expedition testing in Sweden in March 2009.