Wrightspeed X1: "Amazing: Electric Car Pwns Ferrari"
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada 
on 09.11.06
We wrote about the Wrightspeed X1 electric car last July, and today we finally get to see it in action! Via Digg.com (we stole their headline), here is a video of the X1 out-accelerating (by a pretty big margin) a Ferrari and a Porsche. Of course it's apples to oranges, but it's still pretty cool and will certainly help change the stereotypes about electric cars (though probably not as much as the Tesla Roadster). ::Video: Electric car vs Ferrari. See also ::Electric Mini: 0-60 in 4 Seconds: It Has Motors In Its Wheels
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Random trivia: The founder, Ian Wright, is a former Tesla employee who has become... disassociated... from the company. His car uses very similar propulsion technology, except that his system is licensed from AC Propulsion, whereas Tesla owns the rights to their technology. Add in the fact that Tesla is far better funded, and it seems likely that we'll be hearing alot more from Tesla than from Wrightspeed in the future.
The video's cool, but I've always wondered something about electric cars... Aren't there health concerns about sitting on top of such a powerful electric motor? I mean wouldn't this create a nutsack-fying magnetic field for anyone iside?
Have to admit I've never really "gotten" the whole electricity concept that well. Can anyone shed light?
Electromagnetic fields have to be very, very intense to do acute damage. A vehicular electric motor doesn't even come close to these power levels.
The concern about EM fields and cell phones in based on chronic exposure over a long period of time, and the medical effects (if they exist at all) are not well understood. Also, the frequencies involved (i.e. the rate at which the field switches polarity) are entirely different between personal electronics and electric motors.
EM fields are not radiation. All radiation (from visible light to nutsack-frying hard gamma) is carried by photons. EM fields are an entirely different critter, though their physical manifestation is hard to explain, except by describing their effects.
That's interesting. I didn't know about the Tesla connection. I guess that if Tesla are very successful Wrightspeed could find funding more easily. Hm.
The body of that car is an Ariel Atom, so I'm guessing that he licensed the body to them? The Ariel Atom has wicked performance too, I'd like to see this electric version matchup against the gasoline Atom. It's always fun to watch a Ferrari get trounced though.
It didn't sound like the ferrari was revving hard enough to be in it's power band. Either way, still kinda cool, although I wouldn't pay 150k for a car with no roof.
Is the air intake from the atom used to cool the motor/batteries? If not they should get rid of it to reduce drag.
It's a go-cart. There's no comparison here. I'm sure if you stripped all of the 'car' off of the Ferrari, leaving just the engine, a specialized frame and the wheels, this would be much less interesting.
Next headline: Rainstorm Pwns Electric Car Driver :-)