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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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440kw == nearly 1000 hp, that's quite a lot of power. There aren't many vehicles that can seat 8 and do the quarter mile (0-400 meters in this case) in 14.5 seconds!
Interesting demo, but it doesn't seem terribly practical cost-wise.
Why Bullshit?
The article says the car is built using modern materials...perhaps extensive use of carbon fibre has made it lighter? That certainly helps F1 cars achieve a decent power to weight ratio.
The BBC featured this car on one of their scientific programs awhile ago, perhaps it's too cutting edge (and so not commercial enough) for other news vendors?
As for the range, perhaps the makers are using ideal conditions or are tuning the system for cruising at an economical speed, just like many current car manufacturers do (hence the 'chipping' industry).
I guess a vehicle like this may not be suitable for long distances in the US, but for shorter trips (I hate to suggest the school run!) this could be ideal...good luck to them.
To answer your first comment:
:-)
How can 75PS make a car drive 311 km/h? (Specially with a weight of roundabout 3 tons)
Notice that they have one integrated "in-wheel" motor per wheel. Each motor achieves 73 PS. And there are 8 wheels, so that's 73*8 = 584 PS
If you combine those 584 horses with the extremely aerodynamic look of the car (close to teardrop shaped), the top speed of 311 km/h would not surprise me. Once you get those 3 tons moving, most of the work is to combat friction.
For question 2 regarding the range when driving at max speed, we can only speculate. My guess is that if it can do 300km at a constant 100km/h, then at 311 km/h you probably can't do much more than 60-80kms. Which means that you'll rip through those in about 15 minutes.
But the question is: while we can wonder who can manage a constant 311 km/h for 15 minutes on asphalt, what is the acceleration cost for stop-and-go traffic which is much more common these days?
Speed never killed anyone. It's how they decided to stop that caused the problem. <rimshot /> But seriously, most "speed-related deaths" statistics you'll find are artificially inflated. The way the statistics are counted is that if anybody involved was speeding (ie, going at least 1 mph over the limit), then it's categorized as speed-related. That's ignoring any of the true factors, like being alcohol-related, or caused by that little brat in the backseat that wouldn't sit down, or the driver was just an idiot (reading the morning paper while driving counts as idiocy).
They've tempted you with a non-Internal combustion vehicle. Now that you're interested and go "Oh yes, I finally can just plug into my house and Pay the electric company for my power and not the gas station".. Then they unveil it. OH MY GOD THAT THING IS UGLY... and they tell us thats the only way you'll ever have a fast electric car.. a big heavy ugly ass machine. Thus the sabotage of zero-emission vehicles is complete. On a side note.. if we all just plug our cars into our house to charge it... electric companies then will have to produce more electricity.. then burning more of what ever fuel they use. Thus creating more polution.. or possibly some other environmental effect or danger even if your electric company doesn't produce from fossil fuels right..?
Who makes you Sig?
Even the worst electric plants are more effecient than the ebst internal combustion engines at producing and transporting the resulting energy. Even counting the loss of transferring the energy into batteries.. hauling the batteries around in the car.. converting the electricity into making the car go.. the electric is still more effecient. The main downside of electrics however is that it's harder to store at the same space efficency... meaning that batteries need to be a lot bigger that a tank of gas to get the same range. Batteries are getting better but they still can't squeeze as much into the same space. They can also be slow to charge unless you have the money to spend on a fast charger and batteries able to stand being charged that fast. However common EV's can more than provide enough range for the average person to drive to work.. go to lunch.. go back to work.. make a few stops on the way home.. and get home. The cost of fuel is typically way cheaper than gasoline even if you just plug into an outlet in your home and of course you have the option of using solar and wind to recharge your vehicle which of couse costs you nothing other than the upfront cost of installing your system. Insurance is usually cheaper for EV's also as they are usually very safe to drive as they have no parts that can explode and the batteries absorb impact during a crash.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Meanwhile, the direct injection electronically controlled turbo diesel just goes on getting more and more efficient, and cleaner. And smaller. And lighter. And more reliable.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
I mean, it's a 400kW vehicle. Why electric? 400kW is 400kW whether it's petrol or batteries. You still have to generate and store the energy so you're still throwing similar amounts of C02 into the atmosphere when you use it.
So, at 400kW, I don't see the point of the thing. BioDiesel or methanol fuel cell based, I could see the point of.
Deleted
I think the Air car has a better chance of working, not only due to cost, but the licensing model as well. They will grow through selling the factories, not the cars. Check the website to see how many licenses have been sold.
None in North america, 40 in China alone. http://www.theaircar.com
Long story short, sometimes you're not 'just around the corner' from a gas station so I would certainly see the extra wheels as a benefeit.
Moreover, the car demonstrated in the picture is actually a limosine (I happened to catch a Discovery special on this car last a few nights ago), hence the claim to 'seat 8'. The interior has a typical limo-style seating arrangement, with bench seats running around the outside of the vehicle (looked very spacious and comfortable, I might add). These are apparently a big hit in Japan, where I suppose the 25 million Yen (~$600k USD) pricetag isn't quite so daunting.
BD Phone Home!
Shameless plug. Like you weren't expecting it.