Posted on 09/30/2011 9:03:59 AM PDT by Red Badger
A group of gear heads from Croatia has produced a car designed to show that electric vehicle doesnt have to mean something my granola-eating neighbor drives.
Rimac Automobil, named for its founder, Mate Rimac, unveiled the Concept_One at the International Auto Show in Frankfurt. Designed as a sleek sports car it is powered entirely by batteries, and can, the company says, hit 62 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds, and reach a limit of 190 mph. The batteries carry 92 kilowatt-hours, or enough to power an average American home for three days -- or drive the car 372 miles, enough to get from New York to Pittsburgh. (The Tesla Roadster, also a very impressive electric hotrod, hits 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, has a top speed of 125 mph and has a battery range of 245 miles.)
The engines put out the equivalent of 1,088 horsepower, enough to beat some internal combustion models. The motive force to the wheels is divided among four engines that can each be controlled independently. That allows the torque to each wheel to be adjusted as necessary. A computer subsystem controls each pair of wheels and, according to Rimac, can make adjustments thousands of times each second.
The body is light, made of carbon fiber, and the battery is placed near the center of the car for better weight distribution.
This isnt the only electric supercar out there: theres the Tesla Roadster, which boasts a similar 0 to 60 acceleration and Audi rolled out a high-performance electric concept car, the e-tron, in 2009. But if nothing else it shows once again that newer body designs and advances in control technologies can build an electric car that is both powerful and environmentally friendly.
“...it’s just expensive fun”
Name one super-car, electric or gas powered, that isn’t.
If you referring to Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, he was a naturalized Croatian citizen. He was really a Polish Jew.
It comes with your own nickel powered E-Cat.
Electrics are, and will remain, a bad joke.
This will not change until batteries are replaced by fast charge - slow discharge capacitors.
Experiments and very slow progress continues in that effort, but real success may be another decade away, two if the government “helps”.
Not too practical for NASCAR, the charge would run out of the 100th lap.
However, there is a electric motorcycle manufactrurer out of Cal.(MotoCzysz) that averaged 100 mph at the Isle of Man TT races this year. This is 5 laps over the 31 mile mountain course.
To compare the winner of the Seniors TT(1000 cc Honda)averaged 128 mph over the same course. The Supersports TT(600 cc Honda) averaged 123 mph over the mtn. course.
If you are not familiar , the Isle of Man TT races are the premier motorcycle and sidecar races in the world.
While electric may not be practicle for the mini van or pick up truck , it could become a reality for motorcycles.
It would not replace a Harley Sportster but it could be used in by your average commuter in warm climates. It also could capture some of the crotch rocket market.
3 to 5 years if they don't............
All we've seen so far are oversized roller skates and slot cars on steroids. Build a vehicle that can haul a family and gear 500 miles, recharge in 1/2 hour and costs under $30K and they will have something.
This car looks cool, but I doubt it's practical.
Dunno. Out where I live, when the weather is good, the bikers go out and spend all day on the road.
I don’t think they want to have spend half the day charging.
And, again, who’s going to put charging stations in just for them?
All I am saying is most motor vehicle improvements came from someone spending a lot of money to make something go faster or stop quicker and win races. Eventually those improvements find their way into the car/motorcycle that you and I drive.
Maybe sometime in the not so distant future someone will make an electric motorcyle that costs not to much more than a Harley/BMW or Ducati. It may have a range of 500+ miles and/or 2 days. It may also come with a ac/dc inverter to charge it at your house/hotel,etc. Then MAYBE I would buy one.
However, I don’t think it will replace my pickup truck any time soon.
ObamaKar
Volt-n-Nap sounds like an erotic hotel.
92 KWhr is a lot of power..
38 1/3 hours at 120v and 20A (typical US outlet circuit)
7 hours at 220v and 60A (your air conditioner)
2 hours at 440v and 100A (hey, lets rewire the neighborhood)
11 minutes at 5Kv and 100A (just skip around that transformer)
Starting to see the problem.. you need lots of volts and amps to get a quick charge..
I put the last one as a joke. You need your Jesus sticks to handle that one.
Line men, the guys who work on your power lines, use long insulated sticks to move things around. If you don’t, you get to meet Jesus....
A real chick magnet.........
Concept_One Key Specs: Power: 1088 hp
Torque: 3,800 Nm
Battery Capacity: 92 kWh
Range: 600 km
Acceleration 0-100 kph: 2.8 sec
Top Speed: 305 kph
Curb Weight of 1650 kg
No mention of the price tag. I did see that they're planning on producing 88 of them.
Hmmm.
What they really need is an Electric Grand Prix!
Roy Kaylor was selling practical EV conversion kits for VW platforms over twenty years ago, for a fraction of current prices.
His range was better than the Volt, his hybrid version was about the same as the “Leaf”!
Still a fraction of the cost.
The newer cars have made very little progress as compared to Roy’s products.
Neither their range or charging rate are significantly better.
The ONLY thing they have is factory production, luxury features, and subsidies.
Neither of your links is ready for prime time today, allowing for hype and real world development time, I will stick by my ten to twenty year prediction for practical capacitor development.
http://www.kaylor-kit.4t.com/about.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXkijd6_ECQ
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.