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Long-range Electric Car World Speed Record Broken By Australian Students
New submitter is_this_gdog writes: The Sunswift solar car team from UNSW Australia has broken an international world speed record for the fastest long-range electric vehicle, averaging a speed of 107km/h (66mph) over 500km (310miles) from a single charge with their car, eVe. Solar panels were not used for this record (with solar, the car has a range of over 500 miles), the challenge was endurance speed with battery only. There are faster electric cars, and one or two with longer range if you go slow enough — Sunswift eVe is the first to officially do 500kms at highway speeds (pending official FIA approval). Pictures of the car are available here.
The body is obviously specially designed to be extremely aerodynamic -- the undercarriage of a typical car is largely missing -- which means it would not be comfortable / practical for normal usage. Also, the tires were extremely narrow to reduce friction. Wake me up when we have a breakthrough on battery technology that actually allows for practical long distance EVs at a reasonable price and/or can recharge in less than half an hour.
However with my current car I get about 450 miles per tank. at 66mph.
Now the issue is some times I need to drive for 8-10 hours. So I will need to fuel up mid way. The charge time for electric may still be an issue.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Yes, but there is also a 290% higher chance of hitting a kangaroo than on cooler continents, which could really slow you down. So I think it balances.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
While perhaps to be taken with a pinch of salt - http://www.teslamotors.com/en_... - with the larger battery - at 65MPH claims to get 261 miles.
To get a Tesla to 350 miles needs an extra 30kWh of battery - about 120kg at the same performance as the existing battery.
This will easily fit in the trunk.
Wow only 45 miles longer than a Tesla Model S that has been in production for a while now, that is truly a massive breakthrough
I guess because the air is warmer it's less dense, making this kind of record "easier"?
The record was set about 100k SW of Melbourne (Actually the Australian Automotive Research Centre near Anglesea) in Victoria, in Winter.
The temps there in the last week were around 12 Deg C (55 F)
So much for 'less dense' air
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No, but I certainly wouldn't try to do those 6-7 hour drives in a gasoline car without a break either. If you're going to stop for a bite midway, why not charge up while you're at it? And then you're not increasing the length of your trip.
Battery swaps might make this even less of an issue (a two minute pit stop rather than a thirty minute pit stop), but I'm a bit more skeptical about the practicality of those.
With the charging networks coming along, saying that EVs can't do big trips is (or will shortly be) false. The question is how inconvenient a big trip will be, and I'd argue that as long as your EV can drive longer than you'd want to before taking a break, it's practical.
Driving an EV around town is all well and good, but until they can do big trips, they'll just be a curiosity.
Oh come on.. I'm no EV advocate, but they have their place and driving around town is that place. You just plug it in when you get home each time. For commuters, which is actually the BULK of the miles I put on my cars, and EV that can reliably do 200 miles on a charge in real world conditions and recharge over night would work for me just fine. I own two (soon to be three) vehicles, so why not have an EV in the stable if it was actually cost effective? I wouldn't mind. When hitting the long road, the EV would stay parked at home. I'd just use it as a commuter car.
The problem with EV's is only partially range and recharge times, their real problem is cost. They are REALLY expensive to buy and operate. So much so that a standard gasoline powered car works out to be cheaper for most of us overall.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
I've been reading through the comments and there seems to be so much vitriol aimed at electric vehicles. Sure, this isn't a practical car, but electric vehicles in general can be very practical. We have a petrol powered car at the moment but when it eventually dies (which won't be for some time given how reliable it is, go Mazda!) I would seriously consider an all electric simply because we rarely if ever do trips in our car that are longer than the range of the Nissan Leaf for instance. One tank of fuel lasts us about three weeks so we're averaging around 100 miles a week. We have a garage so we can keep an electric topped up (from roof mounted solar panels) and for the once or twice a year where we need the range of a petrol car I have no issue with nipping over to the nearest car rental place and grabbing whatever I fancy for the trip. The cost savings of switching to an electric will be substantial and we would never have to waste five minutes filling the car up every few weeks so that's a plus.
It only makes sense to make the switch when we're shopping for a new car but electrics have become easily practical for an every day car when you live in a city and the cost is dropping down to the affordable range. If we were in the country then I would more likely look to a hybrid but for our needs, lugging around a petrol motor just for the rare times we would have to travel more than 100 miles round trip makes no sense.
If none of the above applies to you and you tow your boat everywhere just in case, and you won't even start your vehicle unless you intend to do an 800 mile round trip, well then, buy a huge 4x4 and be happy with your choice.
"I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"