It's as fast, off the line, as a Porsche 911 Turbo and nearly matches the top speed of the Bugatti Veyron. Now the developer of the Eliica battery concept vehicle wants to put the EV supercar - or something sharing its technology - into production.
Professor Hiroshi Shimizu has tinkered with electric vehicles for more nearly 30 years and insists they do keep getting better.
Shimizu showed off his latest EV creation, the Eliica — a rough acronym for ELectric LIthium-Ion CAr — behind his office at Keio University campus in downtown Kawaski by demonstrating the car’s acceleration, which he says will easily outperform a Porsche 911 turbo, among the fastest cars available today off the race tack, with a 0 to 60 time of under 4 seconds.
During the test run, Eliica’s acceleration is indeed impressive as it rockets up the short test track. The secret of the Eliica acceleration is the fact t it can produce 800 horsepower almost instantly – that’s one of the unsung advantages of battery propulsion, electric motors producing maximum torque the moment they start spinning.
Your Enviro News Source!
But the devil is in the details and the Eliica, has a decidedly unwieldy look to it, as would any vehicles using eight wheels, in this case, with each getting its own small electric motor. Individually, the motors produce 100 horsepower. In addition, the car – which is the size of an American full-size sedan – also has all-wheel-drive capability. Tested on Italy’s Nardo circuit, Eliica hit 370 kmh, or a bit more than 230 mph, and it theoretically could reach 400 kmh, or 250 mph.
“The Eliica has the potential to be accepted by automobile enthusiast, says Shimizu.
The fact is that the car industry has no choice but to reduce C02 emissions dramatically and the professor believes electric propulsion is the only solution, noting that several automakers already have launched their own EV programs.
(Click Here for TheDetroitBureau.com’s first drive of the new Nissan Leaf battery car.)
Even relying on the modest lithium-ion batteries available today, a vehicle like Eliica is four times as efficient as the traditional internal combustion engine, he added. “The batteries today are like the ‘C’ student. They’re okay,” he said. “They could improve with some work.”
However, Shimizu sees opportunity to improve the vehicle itself to even further improve its efficiency. Eliica is based on a new ground up design that will make battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs, lighter, thus increasing the range of the battery, said Shimizu, who since last summer also has been the president of this own EV, start-up company.
The basic platform devised by Shimizu can be scaled down into a more conventional, four-wheeled vehicle with all-wheel-drive capability, or into a downsized commuting vehicle. The basic EV platform devised by Shimizu also could be used for a truck, van or sport utility vehicle.
His company could have a vehicle on the road by 2013 but Shimizu said he is more interested in working with other manufacturers to help them to develop their own electric vehicles from the technical know-how he can supply.
He claims his new company, Sim-Drive, is now in negotiations with 20 companies with an interest in electric vehicle technology, including two carmakers. One is Mitsubishi but Shimizu says he was not in position to identify the second one at this point.
“I want to make this technology available to everyone,” he says.