While electric vehicles still have a long way to go before they are what could be considered mainstream, they are starting to become a little bit more common and both ends of the price spectrum. This little beauty from the Lightning Car Company in the United Kingdom is sure to be at the upper end of that spectrum. The Lightning GT packs 700 bhp, has a top speed of over 130 mph and will take you from 0-60 in less than four seconds (if you are driving the GTS model).
Charge times are low, really low, 10 minutes is all that is required to charge up the GTSE for over 250 miles of driving. The NanoSafe battery system that they are using will presumably last for over twelve years. The bodywork is constructed of carbon fiber and Kevlar, and is designed to crumple on impact to protect the driver:
The Lightning bodywork will incorporate aluminium honeycomb crushable impact cells. This composite monocoque structure uses the same technology that is used in Formula 1 motor racing to protect the driver. This material will be used in the front, rear and sides of the car as well as around the battery area.
The interior is interesting, featuring satellite navigation, an iPod interface and oddly enough, virtual engine sound. I suppose for some people, the sound of silence can be a little disconcerting. The Lightning is going to come in three flavors, an entry level GT, GTS (Sport) and GTSE (Sport Extended Range). No word on price yet, but when you see words like carbon fiber, Kevlar and aluminium crushable impact cells you know it is going to set you back quite a bit more than you would pay for a Prius. This is an electric super car, you can probably expect super car prices. Stay tuned for updates.
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Tags: electric-vehicle, sports-car, Transportation
1 response
Oct 11, 2007 at 8:53 pm
When something sounds too good to be true, then mostly it is. The Hi-Pa Driveâ„¢ from PML Flightlink Ltd that powers the Lightning is rated at 120Kw PEAK each (not 240 KW). One for each wheel means a total of 480Kw equivalent to 680Hp. So where does the additional 20+Hp come from? Well the marketing department decided that 700+Hp sounds better than 680Hp. Anyone in the car business should know that it is easy to talk big power and a bit more difficult to actually make it. Same for Tesla. The AC Propulsion motor in the Tesla roadster is rated at 150Kw peak. As soon as it gets installed into the Tesla it magically becomes a 180Kw peak motor.
Another point of relevance is that electric motors have two power levels raings of major importance, the PEAK power level and the CONTINUOUS power level. The UQM motor that powers the Phoenix cars is 150Kw peak and 100Kw continuous. The Tesla motor is 150 (180?) Kw peak and only 50 Kw continuous. The Hi-Pa drives powering the Lighting is 120Kw peak and I’m guessing only about 30Kw continuous, when considering the mass (25Kg) of the motors. Strangely the continuous power ratings of the motors are not widely advertised.
The final and I believe killer point (that no-one seems to mention or even know about) is that the electric motors can be run at their peak power levels for a very short time, I’m talking 1 to 2 minutes, depending on the cooling system. UQM motors are water-cooled and the Tesla motor isn’t. Not sure about the Hi-Pa, probably not. The point is that you can only use the electric motor so that the average power usage over time does not exceed the continuous rating.
So comparing a 700Hp (680Hp) Lightning to say a 650Hp Aston Martin is like comparing apples with lemons. The Aston can run it’s engine (theoretically anyway) continuously at 650Hp whereas the Lightning can run it’s engine at 700Hp for maybe 2 minutes (probably less). It comes down to the duty cycle. The ICE vehicle can use it’s power at a 100% duty cycle of it’s maximum power, wheras the electric motor vehicle can only use it’s power at something like 30% of the peak peak power rating.
Well this short time that you can run the electric motor at peak rating is long enough to run a short drag race and beat Astons, Ferraris and Porches, and impress ignorant people tremendously. But put them on a road track for a race of say 10 laps and in a very short time (after the first or so lap) the electric cars will start to look utterly ridiculous. If you should put the electrics on a high speed oval, they would only be able to run at their claimed top speed for a minute or two, whereafter they would have to slow down to something probably in the order of 80 mph.
In fact the Lightning is really a 120Kw car that has the capability to put out 480Kw for a very limited time. Same for the Tesla, it is a 50Kw car that can output 150Kw for short periods of time.
I drive a very slow car (BMW Z4M @ 250Kw) but around a road track or a high speed oval for a few laps the BMW will beat both the Tesla and the Lightning quite easily – well probably after the first or second lap.
I have never in my life seen such marketing hype and spin as is now happening with the electric cars, that portray the performance of these vehicles to be much higher by a factor of 2 to 3 times, than they really can deliver. It is really a shame because the truth will come out eventually, and this could be a big negative for electric cars.
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