Electric Car with the Real Stuff
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 07.16.06
Speed. Power. The joys of eking a few more meters per liter out of a Prius is never going to make the blood race for people who live and breath speed and power. Meet the Wrigthspeed X1 prototype electric car. 0-60 in 3 seconds. Standing quarter mile in 11.5 seconds. Dusts Porsches and Ferraris in road tests. 170 mpg. Wait a minute, did you say 170 mpg?? I thought this was an electric car. Okay, it uses about 200Whr/mile for city driving. We will know green design has come of age when you can read the Watt-hours and think "oh, yeah, that's rocking". For now, the kind folks at Wrightspeed have done the math for us, based on 33,705 Watt-hours per gallon of gasoline.
The X1 is powered by a 3-phase AC induction motor, 236 HP, drawing its juice from a Lithium Ion battery pack. Full charge takes about 1.25 hours with 220Volt supply, longer on 110. Unfortunately, the X1 is still fighting the biggest battle of green designers: the battery packs alone run the tab up to US$40,000, resulting in a list price only the rich boys can afford at around $100,000.
So is this just another loner with a good idea which will disappear in the annals of time (along with the many electric car models at the outset of automotive history?) Or is it time to get revved about this idea? It looks like Wrightspeed has the real stuff: a Silicon valley address, investors and engineers. Ian Wright, the man behind the machine, is looking for additional private investors to run up the $8 million budget he expects is needed to produce a consumer version with 100 mile range, 4.5 hour charging period and meeting US Federal safety standards.
Modern "Green Design" is largely about fulfilling people's desires, but doing so in a manner which is sustainable--especially without long term damage to the environment and, consequently, to our health or our national security. We are still on the cutting edge of answering Marie's famous challenge: can you have your cake and eat it too? That is the mission of the good people at Wrightspeed. The site includes good video of the races. Check it out.
Via: Reader comment. Thanks June.
Interested in electric cars? Check out: 17 Electric Cars You Must Know About
That's not Ian Wright the footballer is it?
Someone hurry up and make cheap batteries for these things.
The car will need to have wipers inside the windshield to cope with the splatter emanating from drivers constantly saying "Vrooom Vrooom".
Just looks like an Ariel Atom with a electric motor and battery pack stuck in it.
At least it still keeps the Atom's legendary 0-60 time of 3 seconds (2.5 if you can shift gears quick enough) though.
Ya it's a cool car and a nice step forward, but what do you do with the lithium battery when it expires, and how does it hold up when you run a chevy tahoe into it? Electric cars aren't the answer until wwe design cleaner batteries, people just need to learn to consume less, and realize that having a car with a 50 Hp engine in it doesn't make you a pansy.
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editor note: Batteries can be recycled, just like the batteries in regular gasoline cars are.
But I do agree that people need to consume less and stop the craziness of the road's arms race (we need a 5000lbs vehicle to move around a 170lbs person?)
As I keep telling many people, SUV's cause more deaths, whether it be the drive, passengers, pedestrians, or those in another vehicle, than smaller cars. SUV's are a death trap and are poorly designed. Look at the highway statistics if you think driving a small electric car is dangerous since there are all these monsters on the road. The auto companies want you to feel safe and look cool in SUV's, that is how they sell them.
We will know green design has come of age when people don't have to invent stupid units for it!
What's a Watt-hour?
And can anyone explain how it makes sense as a scientific unit?
Hi,
A watt hour is a way of measuring how many watts are produced (or consumed) in one hour.
When you pay your electric bill the power company charges you for each KWH, (kilo watt hour). This is 1,000 watts for one hour. Your hair dryer, if 1,800 watts, used for one hour would cost 1.8 KWH of power. If your power company charges 10 cents per KWH, an hour of blow drying would cost 18 cents. Multiply your power usage from your bill each month and you can figure out how much solar or wind power you would need to replace the power company.
Realistically, cutting back on ghost loads, power drains producing no useful work, turning off lights, and unplugging any unneccessary chargers would save 20% on nearly anyones power bill. Toys add up.
A computer using 300 watts at idle, if left on 24/7 would cost 7.2 KWH a day, or 216 KWH a month ($21.60 @.10 per KWH). If you have kids with multiple computers your bill will be high.
A 2 KWH solar system is capable of producing 2,000 watts at any given moment, so over the period of one hour would produce 2KWH of power.
A nine hour day would produce 18KWH of power, or about 570 KWH a month.
Probably a bit oversimplified for engineers and math people, but hopefully simple enough for us "normal" (is there such a thing??) people to understand.
have a great day all.
regards,
don dunklee