[1] The vehicle was produced by Sapphire Energy, maker of an algae-based replacement for gasoline and jet fuel, and was unveiled in front of San Francisco's City Hall on September 8th, 2008.
[2] The vehicle was intended to provide a model for the viability of algae-based biofuels as a market alternative to fossil fuels.
[4] The endeavor was driven by optimistic market forecasts that predicted billion-gallon scale production of algae fuels by 2014[5].
These estimates and associated investments, which pre-dated the mass commercialization of electric vehicles, did not materialize as predicted.
[6] In this context, the Algaeus, which was never developed for commercial production, could be seen as emblematic of what has been described as "The Great Algae Biofuel Bubble" of 2005 - 2012.