another electric car

[MarinJohn]

Point Reyes Light - January 19, 2006

Electric car trounces Porsche and Ferrari; Bolinas filmmakers capture race

By Mette Hjermind McCall

The slender long-legged model saunters away from the Wrightspeed X1, an electric sports car that has been brought to Sears Point Raceway by a Bolinas based non-profit in order to race against two of the fastest and most gas guzzling cars on the market, a $440,000 Porsche Carrera GT, and a $160,000 Ferrari 360 Modena. The model click clacks her stiletto heels over to a boom box and presses the stop button. Silence envelopes the racetrack. The X1 bolts from the starring line without a combustible sound–and without the noxious, global warming pollutants that normally spew from a sports car’s tailpipe.

read more at: http://www.ptreyeslight.com/stories/jan19_...lectriccar.html

[Ray Moore]

A quote from the article,
"The white flag is lowered. The first contestant is the Ferrari 360 Modena which the X1 rapidly passes in a hands down victory: on the quarter mile track, X1 clocks in at 11.9 seconds while the Ferrari trails behind at 13.5 seconds. The Porsche fares even worse, clocking five seconds slower than the Wrightspeed prototype. "

This must be wrong. That means the porsche turns the same time as a stock ford Expedition and only one second faster than my Prius. 11.9 seconds isn't all that fast either. The record for an electric car is 8.8 seconds in the quarter. My father in law's '57 chevy turns mid 8s. A Ferrari with 650 horsepower can surely do better than 13.5 seconds.

[Rancid13]

The link to the race video was posted in this thread (see post #4). Pretty neat stuff!!

[darelldd]

With the blessing of Ian Wright, I made the streaming version of the clip and hosted it on my site: video
Is anybody else as excited as I am that I get to actually drive the X1 proto later this month? I didn't think so...

(watch the volume!)

[KMO]

The production car the X1's based on is the Ariel Atom. Spectacularly fast - one of the funniest moments in the last series of Top Gear was watching Jeremy Clarkson driving it, and the effect on his face of a 130mph blast of wind .

It's even street-legal.

How fast is the X1 compared to the Atom? The Atom does 0-60 in 3.5 seconds.

[2Hybrids]

Originally posted by darelldd@Jan 22 2006, 01:19 AM
With the blessing of Ian Wright, I made the streaming version of the clip and hosted it on my site: video
Is anybody else as excited as I am that I get to actually drive the X1 proto later this month? I didn't think so... 

(watch the volume!)

[snapback]195098[/snapback]

Between the ownership of EV's in the past, and getting the chance to drive the X1, I'm so friggin envious of you!

I'm so excited that this technology is coming forth. All I want is an inexpensive EV to take me my 4 miles to and from work, with a few miles here and there on the side.

[DocVijay]

Originally posted by Ray Moore@Jan 21 2006, 03:05 PM
A quote from the article,
"The white flag is lowered. The first contestant is the Ferrari 360 Modena which the X1 rapidly passes in a hands down victory: on the quarter mile track, X1 clocks in at 11.9 seconds while the Ferrari trails behind at 13.5 seconds. The Porsche fares even worse, clocking five seconds slower than the Wrightspeed prototype. "

This must be wrong. That means the porsche turns the same time as a stock ford Expedition and only one second faster than my Prius. 11.9 seconds isn't all that fast either. The record for an electric car is 8.8 seconds in the quarter. My father in law's '57 chevy turns mid 8s. A Ferrari with 650 horsepower can surely do better than 13.5 seconds.

[snapback]194788[/snapback]

There is either a serious problem with either the Porsche and Ferrari, or the drivers. A Porsche Carrera GT can do the quarter mile in 11.3 seconds, beating the Wrightspeed. The Ferrari also should be a full second faster in the quarter mile. It also has 400hp, not 650. For comparison purposes, the new Ferrari F430 can do the quarter mile in 11.7 seconds, which also beats the Wrightspeed. The F430 has 483 hp.

While I'm not trying to say the electric car is bad in any way, it is not a good comparison. Both of the gas cars were driven way under their capabilities. I have no way of knowing if this was intentional or what exactly happened, I'm not going to make any accusations.

I should also make it clear that I think the Wrightspeed is a phenomenal car. It's capabilites are spectacular. I think it's great that they built the Wrightspeed on an Ariel Atom chassis. Of course, this car can do what a Porsche Careera GT can do with one third thepower, so it's almost cheating. If you compare the creature comforts of either car vs. the Wrightspeed you get a severe discrepancy in equipment. Both the Ferrari and the Porsche have leather interiors, power windows, locks, etc, full stereos, and are much more civilized. Any car based on the Atom will be spartan at best. I'm very familiar with the Atom as I plan on purchasing either that or a Lotus Elise in a couple of years. I also know a lot about all the other cars as well, as I know poeple who own them. I have driven all of them other than the Carrera GT.

I think it's great that there are capable electric cars out there. I have bragged on more than one occasion that my Prius has far more torque than many of my friends cars, and can quite easily beat them off the line (and has... :P ). I wish that pure electric cars were more capable and not so severely limited. Did the Wrightspeed drive to the track? Did it drive back home after the race? Probably not, as it's batteries were likely depleted. And how long does it take to recharge? Either of hte other cars could just go home right after the race, no waiting or charging. In this respect I feel that EV's are never going to become as widely successful as other clean cars becuase of limited functions. Fuel cell, hybrid, and hydrogen vehicles WILL do much better as they will have "unlimited" ranges like gas vehicles do today.

Vehicles like the Wrightspeed are great. I'd love to drive one, and blast Mustangs and other punk cars off the road with no emmisions and practically no sound. But I likely never will, and my Atom/Elise will be a standard gas powered one.

[darelldd]

Originally posted by KMO@Jan 22 2006, 03:11 AM
The production car the X1's based on is the Ariel Atom. Spectacularly fast - one of the funniest moments in the last series of Top Gear was watching Jeremy Clarkson driving it, and the effect on his face of a 130mph blast of wind

I saw that piece, and yes, the facial distortion was amazing.

How fast is the X1 compared to the Atom? The Atom does 0-60 in 3.5 seconds.

[snapback]195146[/snapback]

While the atom would have a higher top speed, and would likely reach that top speed faster than than the X1 if the X1 were geared for it, the X-1 will most certainly beat the Atom to 60. 0-60 in the X-1 is about 2.8 seconds. I sometimes sneeze longer than that!

In all of this we must realize that the X-1 is a one-off prototype that was designed, built and paid for by ONE MAN. This was not done by some huge coporation with limitless resources. And it is just the first attempt.

Glad to hear that nobody was tweaked about the "3x as efficiient than the Prius" comment.

[darelldd]

Originally posted by DocVijay@Jan 22 2006, 07:33 AM
There is either a serious problem with either the Porsche and Ferrari, or the drivers. A Porsche Carrera GT can do the quarter mile in 11.3 seconds, beating the Wrightspeed. The Ferrari also should be a full second faster in the quarter mile. It also has 400hp, not 650. For comparison purposes, the new Ferrari F430 can do the quarter mile in 11.7 seconds, which also beats the Wrightspeed. The F430 has 483 hp

While I'm not trying to say the electric car is bad in any way, it is not a good comparison. Both of the gas cars were driven way under their capabilities. I have no way of knowing if this was intentional or what exactly happened, I'm not going to make any accusations.

I can't verify or argue with anything you've said here, unfortunately. I haven't a clue what the ICE cars are capable of. I do know that it was a "fair" race though as far as everybody was *trying* to go as fast as they could, and there were no practice runs. Or to be more clear - the ICE vehicles had all done the quarter mile before, and this was the first-ever quarter mile for the X1. The outcome was unknown during the filming. The cars were all driven by their owners, and each driver most definitely wanted to win. Everything also was street legal. As far as the ICE cars being driven below their capabilities... (** added after learning more **) that just is not the case, as I found out recently. See later posts.

I should also make it clear that I think the Wrightspeed is a phenomenal car. It's capabilites are spectacular. I think it's great that they built the Wrightspeed on an Ariel Atom chassis. Of course, this car can do what a Porsche Careera GT can do with  one third thepower, so it's almost cheating. If you compare the creature comforts of either car vs. the Wrightspeed you get a severe discrepancy in equipment. Both the Ferrari and the Porsche have leather interiors, power windows, locks, etc, full stereos, and are much more civilized. Any car based on the Atom will be spartan at best.

No question that there are severe discrepancies. Just the weight differences alone are staggering. But Ian's main point (regardless of the commentator's words) is to show what EVs are capable of doing - because of the crazy image that EVs are all golf carts.

I wish that pure electric cars were more capable and not so severely limited.

You and me both, brother. The deal is - it doesn't have to be this way. The "production" EVs that were made were fabulous cars - and they were made by companies that didn't want to make them, and they were the very first units. Imagine what we could have had by now on the third or fourth generation if the car makers WANTED to make them.... and did.

Did the Wrightspeed drive to the track? Did it drive back home after the race? Probably not, as it's batteries were likely depleted. And how long does it take to recharge?

I don't know that answer, but I do know that the car could have easily made the round trip to the race track. The X-1 has a 150 mile range, and Ian lives in the Bay area. Regardless, I do understand the point the EVs have limited range. Still, 150 miles is 50% better than my car - and we use our electric for 95% of our driving. The better question is what would have happened if it were raining.

Either of hte other cars could just go home right after the race, no waiting or charging. In this respect I feel that EV's are never going to become as widely successful as other clean cars becuase of limited functions. Fuel cell, hybrid, and hydrogen vehicles WILL do much better as they will have "unlimited" ranges like gas vehicles do today.

I have to disagree here. We have fast charging, and we have high-density batteries. Put them together and TODAY we have the capability of 300-400 miles of range with 15 minute recharge. This isn't unobtanium, it is real. Yes, it would be expensive (at first), yet would be just a drop in the bucket as compared to Fuel Cell development where we don't even have infrastructure and the cost of the vehicles still needs to come down by 99% before they're affordable. But even ignoring that, MOST vehicles spend their entire lives driving WITHIN the range of yesterday's' EVs (I won't call them current because they're all 10 years old now!). EVs even in their crippled configuration are still valuable cars right now - It just requires people to be realistic about how and where they drive. Just think of SUV advertising for an example of exciting people about driving in a way that they never really will drive.

My point: Not every car *needs* unlimited range. Hybrids might be the best way for when that is required, but it isn't required for all drivers. Not even close. When gasoline gets expensive, just take a look at how many long trips are suddently not so important to American motorists. With unlimited resources, things would look different. But today we have some stiff realities to consider when we think to our future of transportation.

Vehicles like the Wrightspeed are great. I'd love to drive one, and blast Mustangs and other punk cars off the road with no emmisions and practically no sound.    But I likely never will, and my Atom/Elise will be a standard gas powered one.

[snapback]195193[/snapback]

Hey, when I get my X1, we'll have to hook up!

Thanks for your insight and good info.

[darelldd]

Originally posted by 2Hybrids@Jan 22 2006, 05:14 AM
Between the ownership of EV's in the past, and getting the chance to drive the X1, I'm so friggin envious of you!

Uh-oh. I might tick you off even more. My EV ownership wasn't just in the past. I've had an EV for seven years now.... and I still own two today (though the Ranger is for sale). The Rav4EV is our most-used vehicle, and covers 95% of our automotive miles.

I'm so excited that this technology is coming forth.  All I want is an inexpensive EV to take me my 4 miles to and from work, with a few miles here and there on the side.

[snapback]195160[/snapback]

A plug-in Prius would be just the ticket for this kind of stuff. Only burn gasoline when you need to.