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Electric Car Capable of 180mph
niclas_b writes "This electric car is pretty cool. It's not cheap and maybe not very practical. But very cool nevertheless." Might as well throw in a link to their homepage as well.
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Running Performance 14.5 sec. (0-400m)
A quarter mile in only 14.5 seconds? Or am I reading that wrong?
Max Speed 311.67 km/h
Top speed, 193 MPH
Gross weight 2980 kg
Gross weight, 6,569 pounds!!!!! WHAT! That's 3 tons!
There's gas powered cars that weigh 1/4th that, have 15 second quarter miles (400km), and a top speed of 150 MPH (241 km/h). Is this some kind of cruel joke? Can't they put that engine and battery into a smaller frame and get an electric car good enough to compete in an actual race? That thing looks like a long minivan... If there was a cheaper version, with a MUCH better shape, I'm sure alot of people would buy it.
How far will it go on $15 and 2 minutes per week of refueling labor?
It's cool that they put everything (motor / reduction / brakes) in the wheel, but i fail to see the point of it... to be honest:
the reason you buy high quality name brand wheels is because (beside the "looks cool" and "got $$ buring holes everywhere") it gives a lower up-sprung weight. which means that the car does much better in the ride quality, easier to tune the shocks / suspensions, etc. by the way, different brake rotors would allow the same thing -- but people usually go for bigger rotors for the stopping power, and try to make sure the wheel themselves are as light as possible.
this is kinda important when you want your car to be performance oriented, as these guys are certainly trying to demonstrate -- but this combination of technology will ultimately yield a car that "can go 180mph but the ride really suck", or "if you want reasonable ride quality, then our entire million(s) dollar technology won't work"... self-defeating by my standards, anyway. =)
gotta say, though... damn... 600kg of batteries; that's over 1300 lb. some small cars (say, lotus elise) weight about that much...
My life in the land of the rising sun.
And seriously, whats with the 8 wheel design?
To begin with, as the page explains, it means no dive or squat during braking or acceleration. It also means smooth cornering. It means, as your other respondent mentions, 8 motors with power evenly distributed to each wheel. It means that the car can lose wheels and continue to operate normally. It means the vehicle prototype can be adapted into limousines, trucks, buses, and other large vehicles.
Basically, it's completely kickass, and you call it "laughable" because it's not what you're used to. Good job, man.
Don't try that "protecting the children" shit you people use to keep the tits and bad words off my TV. --Seanbaby
I'm surprised that no-one has pointed out that one of these motors, kicking out around 75hp, would power a small family car just fine. Using only one motor and a transaxle would probably let you fill the existing engine compartment and fuel tank areas with NiMH batteries, giving a Ford Fiesta/Escort sized car (small/mid family car) with reasonable around-town performance. You could also stick the 75hp motor and batteries in a Nissan Micra-sized car, for a small car that goes like hell... The standard, non-cat, carbie Micras have about 55-60hp, and the new shape ones are all about 50-55hp. 75hp and *no* noxious emissions would be pretty damn useful in something that weighs 550kg wet.
In my mind the practicality of these vehicles, independent of cost, revolves around the range versus recharge cycle. If it takes more than a few minutes to do a recharge, and the range is less than a thousand miles, then they're just not good enough for a general-purpose vehicle.
This is why hybrids are interesting ... recharge
cycle is a tank fill.
What I'm waiting for is someone to look at making a hybrid where the engine is always on, always producing power, but the generator is producing a bit more power than the thing normally will need and charging a capacitor stack rather than batteries. That gives you acceleration (for awhile) but is much lighter and cheaper than batteries and since the engine is operating efficiently all the time, and requires quite a bit less power than if it were producing motive power directly (eg a few hundred cc ought to do a pretty good job) it should still be more efficient.
jim frost
jimf@frostbytes.com