New Battery Powered Super Car, 0-60 in 4 secs

[mrxxmas]

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2274866,00.asp

They still keep coming up with new battery technology....

[KarenRei]

AltairNano isn't news; they've been in the limelight for a while. What'll be news is if they can manage to reduce their price. ;) NanoSafe titanate batteries are currently about $2/Wh. Perhaps Lightning Car can drive some volume in battery production, thus lowering the cost.

[drivin98]

Same car, longer article (http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/03/02/behold-the-lightning-gt-and-it-was-good/).

[Rogue6]

Looks like it borrowed some of it's styling cues from the Chrysler Firepower! :p
http://www.diseno-art.com/encyclopedia/concept_cars/chrysler_firepower.html

[drivin98]

New Lightning will be revealed iat the Brithish International Motor Show on the 23RD. (http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/07/09/lightning-gt-to-make-debut-at-british-international-motor-show/)

[Tamerlin]

$300,000?! Get out of here.

[BryanSR]

$300,000?! Get out of here.
It don't sound like a LOT OF $$$$ WHEN you say it REAL FAST!!!!!!!!!! :happy0025:

BryanSR

[Danny]

These fast cars are slightly interesting, since we are used to the fastest and strongest being the bestest, but what really interests me is trying to keep some semblance of normalcy when we have more and more trouble with available energy. If I can travel at 55mph for 120 miles, I will be a lot happerier than I thought I ever could be with an EV. Accelerating to 60 mph in four seconds is useless to me. Creating a car that can do this is not impossible, but it is done at the expense of ultimate efficiency. It needs a more powerful motor so that it can accelerate at these speeds, which means more weight, which means less efficiency. Of course, it is still an EV, which is a step in the right direction, but I think these EV manufacturers are trying to fit the old rules.

Still, I guess a case can be made to try to highlight the capabilities of the EV so that other people will get interested. But let's face it, our world is changing, and how many times do you really have to accelerate to 60 in four seconds? The freeways seldom move at 60 mph anyway.

[mmalc]

I guess a case can be made to try to highlight the capabilities of the EV so that other people will get interested.

That was precisely the reason Eberhard gave for the Roadster. Traditionally EVs have had a poor image -- they generally appear to be underpowered novelty vehicles for the eccentric in the hemp shirt. Making them more desirable at the top end leads (for once) to a trickle-down effect.

Moreover, though, there is always going to be a market at the high-end, and replacing these (typically rather inefficient) cars with vehicles whose efficiency exceeds that of even the best of "everyday" cars is actually "better" than increasing the efficiency of the mundane. Wrightspeed (http://wrightspeed.com/company.html) elaborates on this perhaps counter-intuitive proposition.

[Matthijs]

Eberhards roadster is finally up for delivery. I love the color and stripes.

http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autobloggreen.com/media/2008/07/martins-tesla-250.jpg

[drivin98]

The Lightning has been officially unveiled (http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/07/22/lightning-gt-out-of-the-bottle-at-british-international-motor-sh/).
http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autobloggreen.com/media/2008/07/all-new-lightning-gt.jpg

I love me some in-wheel motors. Wish the Typ-1 was all-wheel drive. Maybe by the time the Typ=3 is designed they will be fiscally feasible.

[oldpecan]

Isn't the most aerodynamic shape more like a comet or Lance Armstrong's time trial helmet or maybe like an Aptera?

What I'm trying to say is: "Isn't the Lightning's classic sportscar shape just obsolete eye-candy ... what with "no engine"?" Given that size of a vhicle ... wouldn't you move the cabin up towards the front a bit?

that being said - Fantastic! You go, Lightning! I note at Lightning's site that the slightly increased weight of the wheels (with the motors in them) is not considered [by Lightning Inc.,) to be that big of a deal from a ride/suspension angle...(which was supposed by so many smarties to be a prohibitive hurdle to the adoption of wheel-motors) ...
and certainly wheel-motors for a slower-accelerating electro econobox could be even lighter in weight than Lightning's hot-rod motors??

and EEStor claims to be cheaper and lighter than the lithium-ion.

.

[Matthijs]

and certainly wheel-motors for a slower-accelerating electro econobox could be even lighter in weight than Lightning's hot-rod motors??

PML has 4 engines. 3 are on their website. One version is build for the Volvo recharge.
http://www.pmlflightlink.com/motors/hipa_drive.html

Their lightest motor is only 18kg!

[oldpecan]

I imagine that the Lightning has traditional axles, i.e., horizontal axles.

IMHO, wheels with wheel-motors deserve to have "axles" like this:

http://www.e-traction.com/spiral_control.htm

And can't you imagine "unplugging" that suspension-arm from one socket in a capacious wheel-well, and then plugging it into another socket to achieve "discretionary wheelbase"? "variable wheelbase" if you will

I would like to see a "Top Gear" or similar critical review of Lightning's ride quality with the wheel-motors.