4 ms·

The 1341-horsepower electric supercar

12 points by Sami_Lehtinen 12y ago

vessenes 12y ago
I'm not an electrical engineer, but I do own a bicycle with a 250 watt motor, and I'm pretty sure BBC left off a bunch of 'kilo' prefixes in their article.. That or I just need better energy delivery to my bike wheels. That said, I'm interested in weight- and aero-dynamics; so much power comes with a bunch of difficult engineering problems, like keeping the car from killing you in a variety of interesting ways. It would be fun to see this on a track.
- Animats 12y ago
  "So much power comes with a bunch of difficult engineering problems, like keeping the car from killing you" Right. Power hasn't been a problem with race cars for decades. All the major racing classes have restrictions to limit power. Both F1 and NASCAR just reduced their power limits. It's more about keeping the wheels on the ground.
  - iaw 12y ago
    Racing (and spectating) used to be substantially more dangerous before adequate power/safety limitations were put in place. Everything has an optimal point.
  - astrodust 12y ago
    There are electric drag racers with even more power. Example: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1091975_2000-horsepower-electric-dragster-sets-new-drag-record-video http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1091975_2000-horsepower-e... It's not a problem of keeping the tires on the ground in this case, but from components shattering when all that power is applied. The torque on those wheels is absolutely insane. Combustion engines need to be significantly larger to produce more power. Electric motors don't necessarily need more size, they just need to be able to handle more current, so the limitation is how fast you can get the power out of the battery and into the wheels.
mocko 12y ago
Trying to read this from the UK I get the cryptic message: "We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes." ...which doesn't in any way explain why I'm not allowed to see it. Well done BBC, well done.
6stringmerc 12y ago
Uhh, it's not a supercar to me until it goes through some real, honest to goodness testing. There's nothing wrong with calling it a concept car...because that's what it is, a concept of a supercar. For all we know, the thing might be as viable as the last Vector Aeromotive concept or be as combustible as the Zenvo when Top Gear got their hands on it. I mean, I love cars. I love technology. I really dislike putting the cart in front of the horse though...cough LM2 Streamliner cough...

12 points by Sami_Lehtinen 12y ago

I'm not an electrical engineer, but I do own a bicycle with a 250 watt motor, and I'm pretty sure BBC left off a bunch of 'kilo' prefixes in their article.. That or I just need better energy delivery to my bike wheels. That said, I'm interested in weight- and aero-dynamics; so much power comes with a bunch of difficult engineering problems, like keeping the car from killing you in a variety of interesting ways. It would be fun to see this on a track.

Animats 12y ago
"So much power comes with a bunch of difficult engineering problems, like keeping the car from killing you" Right. Power hasn't been a problem with race cars for decades. All the major racing classes have restrictions to limit power. Both F1 and NASCAR just reduced their power limits. It's more about keeping the wheels on the ground.
- iaw 12y ago
  Racing (and spectating) used to be substantially more dangerous before adequate power/safety limitations were put in place. Everything has an optimal point.
- astrodust 12y ago
  There are electric drag racers with even more power. Example: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1091975_2000-horsepower-electric-dragster-sets-new-drag-record-video http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1091975_2000-horsepower-e... It's not a problem of keeping the tires on the ground in this case, but from components shattering when all that power is applied. The torque on those wheels is absolutely insane. Combustion engines need to be significantly larger to produce more power. Electric motors don't necessarily need more size, they just need to be able to handle more current, so the limitation is how fast you can get the power out of the battery and into the wheels.

mocko 12y ago

Trying to read this from the UK I get the cryptic message: "We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes." ...which doesn't in any way explain why I'm not allowed to see it. Well done BBC, well done.

6stringmerc 12y ago

Uhh, it's not a supercar to me until it goes through some real, honest to goodness testing. There's nothing wrong with calling it a concept car...because that's what it is, a concept of a supercar. For all we know, the thing might be as viable as the last Vector Aeromotive concept or be as combustible as the Zenvo when Top Gear got their hands on it. I mean, I love cars. I love technology. I really dislike putting the cart in front of the horse though...cough LM2 Streamliner cough...