Wrightspeed Electric Supercar

Inverter... lots of fancy electronics in here

Last year, I noted the beauty of the Volta and the emerging need for downloadable Engine Ring Tones for otherwise silent electric cars…. ;-)

Well, a lot has happened in a year. I just posted a video of my ride in this electric supercar on Revver. With the wind noise, it’s hard to hear my discussion with Ian Wright, the founder and builder of the car. Here are some interesting tidbits about the movie:

• 0-60 in 3 seconds (faster than a supercar (shown in this race)).
• 1/3 the energy consumption of a hybrid (170 Miles Per Gallon equivalent).
• Everything you see is in first gear.
• The fast stops are regenerative braking (returning energy to the batteries).

Hopefully cars like this from Wrightspeed and Tesla will add a bit of consumer cachet to the electric car category… and accelerate the industry to the future.

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Comments

Kiki J says:

Hmmm...I don't know much about cars, but this one looks funky.
Posted 48 months ago. ( permalink )

quebon2 says:

But does it have cup holders? ;)
Posted 48 months ago. ( permalink )

jurvetson says:

heh... it doesn't even have doors or any sheet metal along the sides.

It does have a nifty gauge that tells you how many g’s you’re pulling…
Posted 48 months ago. ( permalink )

AndrewNZ says:

Steve, that looks like incredible fun. I especially like the bit in your description above about the whole thing just being in first gear! More seriously, what is the best estimate for how long it will take for technology like this to trickle down into more ordinary consumer vehicles?
Posted 48 months ago. ( permalink )

Solitaire1 [deleted] says:

The video is a must see ...so quiet, quick to stop..wow Envy you the ride:) correction, trip! oh, one more thing..Go USA Go!
Posted 48 months ago. ( permalink )

Jef Poskanzer says:

I think all electric cars should make the same sound as the Jetsons car.
Posted 48 months ago. ( permalink )

Chris Radcliff says:

So sayeth the prophet Sterling: "a properly designed Viridian hot-rod would blow these relics off the road silently, at super-high speed, using canned lightning and emitting only water."

And lo, in just a few short years it came to pass...
Posted 48 months ago. ( permalink )

artwitness says:

Simply beautiful. I wonder if, after mass production, the material costs would eat up any savings either economical or ecological? That's the wiley world of composites for ya.
Posted 48 months ago. ( permalink )

TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ says:

Well, artwit, you know that "material costs" are almost always so draw up that the best Dali painting looks more believable than them.

Material Costs will surely eat up savings on other costs as long as the intention is to keep selling unaffordable cars... to people who want to pay for the status of having an unaffordable car.

You know that the Price, the price stamped on a good is part of the value of such good. In art is very common to see that. Or fashion... tell me if paying 2000 dollars for a Louis Vuitton purse isn´t it part of the 'cool thing' about it? To say "I paid 2000 for this [complete here with noun of preference]"...

I have read today, total casuality, that companies who build hydrogen cars are now begining to "admit" that the emissions and waste to produce Hydrogen can equal or surpass the toxicity we get today with fossil fuels. So there would be no saving at all. Is this the small print of the contract some may to me, right? In my planet that is simply called "deceit" which is a form of "evil". And it is very serious.

Correct me someone if I am mistaken in the info. This is just my humble point of view. =)

Sorry, I didn´t mean to detour the conversation on the ride. It´s a help to perceive the speed you were driving at -in the video- for how fast you pass the cars. They seem to be stopped.
Posted 48 months ago. ( permalink )

sbove says:

I looked at a start-up in Basalt CO founded by Amory Lovins and backed by various luminaries including Bill Joy called Hyper-Car about 4 years ago.

I told them: I have a Honda Insight. I try to get 20MPG by hammering it. I drive it at 105+ mph whenever I can. Its way faster than they let on. You should see people when I blast past them. The marketing people have it all wrong. Electric is about the future. It's about SPEED and PERFORMANCE -- unheard of zip and stopping power. Why not use your know how to build a stealthy electric super-car. The physics say you can do it now...with batteries (not PEM's) bike frame technology, carbon fiber body panels, and variable reluctance electric motors -- safer, faster (accelerating and stopping), quieter. Put a really nice interior in it. Achieve 0-60 in 3 seconds....top speed of 200 mph. 100+ mpg equivalent. 150 mile range is enough. Sell 'em with two batterypacks and a quick change dolly for 2 minute turn around at home. Sell 'em for a crazy price: $1M a pop including 100,000 shares of preferred stock. Sell 10 or 20 in your first year to some high profile tech-millionaires and you'll do more to advance the cause of e-cars than any other start-up (and have nice revenue).

HyperCar sadly could not get their head around this: Lovin's RMI/nega-watt bias??.

Wrightspeed has the right idea: people who buy high end Porches, Ferraris, Koenigsegg's (http://www.koenigsegg.com/thecars/design.asp ?design=2), McLarens or Lambos drive them <4,000 miles per year and rarely more than 200 miles on a trip. They want the fastest coolest recreational car at any price - not a practical commuter vehicle. The pre-chasm market for all-electric drive is about racing-car exotics. Pistons are so 20th century. Nice to see evidence of a team finally going in this direction.
Posted 48 months ago. ( permalink )

TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ says:

sbove, I love your comment for I am a car lover too. I think you are right on how you depict things. =)

Allow me, tho, to express this -completely unproper from a lady alien-... thought that popped inside with yer final words:

Yeah! Pistons as so 20th century but they are damn cool and sound like crazy! Yehaaa! Rrrrrrrr! Feeling an engine purr is ultimate glory!

Driving any electric car at 150mph can be fun. However, is like making love, but with latex. So 21st century, ya know, yet so... so.

=D

Ah... I feel better now. Thanks. ;;;;)
Posted 48 months ago. ( permalink )

svur says:

a nice mix visually and technically
Posted 47 months ago. ( permalink )

Hans ten Hagen says:

Impressive. In terms of PR - if this car can beat the trackrecord on the German Nurburg ring it will be very very impressive!
Posted 47 months ago. ( permalink )

joeastacy says:

Really fast electric cars are sweet!

Joe: Aren't we just burning more coal at the ecectricity plant.

Mr. Wright: PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!
Posted 44 months ago. ( permalink )

mdork says:

Great use of the Atom but does Ian realize his rear tires are mounted backwards?
Posted 44 months ago. ( permalink )

jurvetson says:

I'll ask him. The car's acceleration is traction-limited. So he's been thinking about how to get the most grip from the rear tires.

Joe: Yup, gotta feed it with solar; otherwise it just pushes the problem elsewhere.

Alieness: right on! Hence the market need for good downloadable engine ring tones. Why stop at pistons... Imagine a Huey helicopter or Saturn V booster.

sbove: right you are about the target market. Just look at the average mileage on a supercar....

Speaking of Amory and carbon fiber...

Posted 44 months ago. ( permalink )

the other Martin Taylor says:

Probably not as interesting to you but I wish the petrol version was street legal in the US and the that the dollar was stronger. Here's my fave English motoring show reviewing the gas atom: Top Gear reviews the Ariel Atom
Posted 42 months ago. ( permalink )

Monster boy says:

jurvetson: Wouldn't count on too much from solar too soon, and this car seems very much about the "right now". Nuclear, though is getting a following now even among environmentalists, and geothermal is the better bet for those who still say "No nukes".

Damn this car is cool. I will never own one, will probably never sit in or even see one, but it's cool.
Posted 37 months ago. ( permalink )

kiltie_nanaimo says:

You can't beat the laws of physics...no matter how neat the car looks.

It will never be economic. As far as energy is concerned there is no 'free lunch'.
Posted 33 months ago. ( permalink )

audreyjm529 says:

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Muscle Car Vs Supercar, and we'd love to have your photo added to the group.
Posted 32 months ago. ( permalink )

BenODen says:

Ooooh, yeah, it does look like an atom. I wonder when the electric car racing leagues are going to come. You have this, the volta, and the tesla soon...
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

Hooch1666 says:

'Pushing the pollution elsewhere' is just the whining of the oil companies. An electric car is 85% efficient where a gasoline car is at least 85% wasteful. If every car in the world suddenly became electric tomorrow and we charged them using coal-fired generators they would still produce less emissions than the filthy combustion engined cars we drive now. Plus they would mostly be charged at night when power demand is low. That would help smooth out the demand on power stations and actually help them run more efficiently. These cars have to hit the streets now!
Posted 18 months ago. ( permalink )

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Wrightspeed Electric Supercar

Comments

Kiki J says:

quebon2 says:

jurvetson says:

AndrewNZ says:

Solitaire1 [deleted] says:

Jef Poskanzer says:

Chris Radcliff says:

artwitness says:

TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ says:

sbove says:

TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³ says:

svur says:

Hans ten Hagen says:

joeastacy says:

mdork says:

jurvetson says:

the other Martin Taylor says:

Monster boy says:

kiltie_nanaimo says:

audreyjm529 says:

BenODen says:

Hooch1666 says:

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