Lightning's New Electric GT Roadster
Following on the heels of Connaught's plan to release a 42 miles-per-gallon hybrid sports car, the newly-formed Lightning Car Company is planning on releasing an all-electric roadster, also called Lightning. The U.K.-based company hopes to release its two-seater sometime in 2008. When it ships, the car is estimated to deliver 0-60 times of less than four seconds.
If achieved, this statistic would make it faster than just about any other supercar on the road, as well as slightly faster than the current kings of the badass electric cars, the bright yellow TZero 2 and the Tesla Roadster.
Right now, the Lightning exists only in theory, as the car in the pictures is actually the fuel-powered Lightning version made by Ronart (as evidenced by the chrome fuel-filler cap behind the window), another little British company.
Looks like green machines are going to become increasingly fun to drive. Just remember that going green is still going to require a lot of green: The standard, gasoline-powered Lightning clocks in at just under $80,000, while the new electric-powered Lightning is expected to cost well more than the $100,000 needed to buy a Tesla.
That's an awful lot of Prius's.
From Engadget.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
francas @ Jul 29th 2007 6:50PM
I am 59 years old ,, and destinctly remember electric UPS truck as a kid growing up in Brooklyn it is about time they have revived them and the concept is probably the same,, I also remember stories about how fast the electric trollys were in Brooklyn , they would race the cars from 0- 60 and the cars always lost..of course these were overhead electric connected trollies
Clive @ Oct 16th 2007 5:27PM
When something sounds too good to be true, then mostly it is. The Hi-Pa Drive™ from PML Flightlink Ltd that powers the Lightning is rated at 120Kw PEAK each (not 240 KW). One for each wheel means a total of 480Kw equivalent to 680Hp. So where does the additional 20+Hp come from? Well the marketing department decided that 700+Hp sounds better than 680Hp. Anyone in the car business should know that it is easy to talk big power and a bit more difficult to actually make it. Same for Tesla. The AC Propulsion motor in the Tesla roadster is rated at 150Kw peak. As soon as it gets installed into the Tesla it magically becomes a 180Kw peak motor.
Another point of relevance is that electric motors have two power levels raings of major importance, the PEAK power level and the CONTINUOUS power level. The UQM motor that powers the Phoenix cars is 150Kw peak and 100Kw continuous. The Tesla motor is 150 (180?) Kw peak and only 50 Kw continuous. The Hi-Pa drives powering the Lighting is 120Kw peak and I'm guessing only about 30Kw continuous, when considering the mass (25Kg) of the motors. Strangely the continuous power ratings of the motors are not widely advertised.
The final and I believe killer point (that no-one seems to mention or even know about) is that the electric motors can be run at their peak power levels for a very short time, I'm talking 1 to 2 minutes, depending on the cooling system. UQM motors are water-cooled and the Tesla motor isn't. Not sure about the Hi-Pa, probably not. The point is that you can only use the electric motor so that the average power usage over time does not exceed the continuous rating.
So comparing a 700Hp (680Hp) Lightning to say a 650Hp Aston Martin is like comparing apples with lemons. The Aston can run it's engine (theoretically anyway) continuously at 650Hp whereas the Lightning can run it's engine at 700Hp for maybe 2 minutes (probably less). It comes down to the duty cycle. The ICE vehicle can use it's power at a 100% duty cycle of it's maximum power, wheras the electric motor vehicle can only use it's power at something like 30% of the peak power rating.
Well this short time that you can run the electric motor at peak rating is long enough to run a short drag race and beat Astons, Ferraris and Porches, and impress ignorant people tremendously. But put them on a road track for a race of say 10 laps and in a very short time (after the first or so lap) the electric cars will start to look utterly ridiculous. If you should put the electrics on a high speed oval, they would only be able to run at their claimed top speed for a minute or two, whereafter they would have to slow down to something probably in the order of 80 mph.
In fact the Lightning is really a 120Kw car that has the capability to put out 480Kw for a very limited time. Same for the Tesla, it is a 50Kw car that can output 150Kw for short periods of time.
I drive a very slow car (BMW Z4M @ 250Kw) but around a road track or a high speed oval for a few laps the BMW will beat both the Tesla and the Lightning quite easily - well probably after the first or second lap.
I have never in my life seen such marketing hype and spin as is now happening with the electric cars, that portray the performance of these vehicles to be much higher by a factor of 2 to 3 times, than they really can deliver. It is really a shame because the truth will come out eventually, and this could be a big negative for electric cars.
Enric @ Nov 10th 2007 9:07PM
This message is for Clive:
How can you be so sure of those comments? Have you at leastr seen videos of the Tesla Roadster running at 130 mph during long periods? (much longer than 2 minutes)
It doesn't slow down to 80 mph.
And even if electric cars don't get 200 mph, what about the pollution? You don't care about the global warming? Don't you see that gas is destroying the world?
That's more important that stupid races at 200 mph in oval circuits.
charles healy @ Dec 10th 2007 12:38PM
what we need is what we had, an all electric commuter car that was crushed by GM, Ford, Honda back in 2002 It was the best around with super batteries that gave the car a 300 mile range. Now GM is coming out with the Volt still a hybrid of sorts with a gas engine to charge the batteries because they only have a range of 40 miles. Why? Because they sold the patent to the super battery to Texaco. But this is old news. Here's a suggestion: put two alternators behind the grill with louvered impellers that will turn by wind power and make the electric car a virtual perpetual motion machine
zega @ Jan 2nd 2008 6:14PM
Read about it, inform yourself before writing, http://www.pmlflightlink.com/motors/hipa_drive.html
it is water cooled, 50KW per wheel continuous...
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid377000833/bclid452310430/bctid1312350978
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be1Nnj_Zrag
tomking @ Jan 2nd 2008 8:15PM
someoneshouldgetaholdofelmerfordofstlouismowhoowendredgiantbatteryhegavemeabatteryin1957thatiusedinmyracecarthatiranwithoutageneraterformonthsatatimewithoutachargefromwhathetoldmeheusedheavywaterinthemidontknowifthiswastrueornotbutitsureworkedhasanyelseheardofthisifsoletmeknow