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Hand-Crafted Lightning Electric GT Sports Car Powered by Four Electric Motors
:: 23 July, 2008
Combining classic British sports car design with racing car technology the Lightning is hand-crafted in the UK. Built as a drivers car, it is powered by four electric motors.
700+ bhp is available immediately from zero rpm and the instant acceleration means 0-60 takes under 4 seconds. The lighting can be charged from a conventional mains power supply. A 10 minute 'fast' charge delivers 300km of motoring with the help of regenerative braking.
As with all electric vehicles, the Lightning will be road tax and congestion charge exempt. Powering the car on a domestic power supply will cost approximately 2.2p per mile, a tenth of the price of a petrol car. Lighting claim a £20,000 plus saving on annual running costs vs. an equivalent petrol sports car.
Motors in each wheel, provide phenomenal torque and power capability which is integrated in each wheel assemble. There is no gearbox, differential, axel, drive shaft or prop shaft to contend with. All the power is generated at the wheels, the point at which it is required which eliminates mechanical complexity and power losses experienced with standard sports cars. The lightweight and powerful motors also allow for regenerative braking on all four wheels.
The car is built from a carbon fibre/aluminium honeycomb composite monocoque chassis making it light and safe with a carbon fibre body.
Lightning development, testing and manufacture will take place over the next 18 months. Reservations for 2010 cars are now being taken. Expect prices to be in excess of £150,000.
About Electric Vehicle
An electric vehicle, or EV, is a vehicle with one or more electric motors for propulsion. This is also referred to as an electric drive vehicle. The motion may be provided either by wheels or propellers driven by rotary motors, or in the case of tracked vehicles, by linear motors.
Unlike an internal combustion engine that is tuned to specifically operate with a particular fuel such as gasoline or diesel, an electric drive vehicle needs electricity, which comes from sources such as batteries, fuel cells or a generator. This flexibility allows the drive train of the vehicle to remain the same, while the fuel source can be changed.
The energy used to propel the vehicle may be obtained from several sources, some of them more ecological than others:
on-board rechargeable energy storage system (RESS), called Full Electric Vehicles (FEV). Power storage methods include:
chemical energy stored on the vehicle in on-board batteries: Battery electric vehicle (BEV)
static energy stored on the vehicle in on-board supercapacitors
kinetic energy storage: flywheels
direct connection to land-based generation plants, as is common in electric trains and trolley buses (See also : overhead lines, third rail and conduit current collection)
renewable sources such as solar power: solar vehicle
generated on-board using a fuel cell: fuel cell vehicle
generated on-board using nuclear energy: nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers
It is also possible to have hybrid electric vehicles that derives energy from multiple sources.
