Friday, January 6, 2006

And now for something...

Completely different...  I usually spend a few moments and check out the latest in gadget-tech and auto-tech each day.  Today, I came across this video of a cool little car.  This little two-seater electric car does 0-60mph in 3 seconds!  Now I understand all the eco-friendly reasons one would have an electric vehicle (or even a hybrid), but frankly they've all been a little too much eco and not enough fun.  Until they can come close to the performance and fun-to-drive factor of a good ole' all American V8, I'll pass.  The video of this electric car is amazing to watch as it catches up with the other cars on the road at an incredible rate.  Of course I'd still miss the gut wrenching, deep throaty growl of a well tuned exhaust.

5 comments:

  1. Ken Adelman (Corralitos resident, and fellow mountain unicyclist), has a T-Zero: http://www.adelman.com/cars/cars.html


    0-60 in 4.1. 200 HP. electric.

    http://www.acpropulsion.com/tzero_pages/tzero_home.htm

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  2. You'll want to see it racing against a Ferrari and a Porsche here: http://www.darelldd.com/ev/movies/wrightspeed.wmv.


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  3. Not bad, but a true like-for-like comparison is probably less favourable: The 300bhp Supercharged Honda VTEC version of the Ariel Atom would probably still beat it (and you can actually buy one today for less than £30,000:


    http://www.arielmotor.co.uk/04/frames.htm

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  4. Reminds me of an old aviation saying: Hang a big enough engine on a toilet and it'll fly. :)


    While the sensible side of me agrees that we need to reduce our dependency on oil for transportation and energy (we need all there is left in the ground for plastics, fertilizers and medicines), the side of me that's been a car nut for almost 40 years refuses to even consider anything that doesn't come equipped with only an internal combustion engine. :)

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  5. Only problems Ive seen with electric cars is you need special plug sockets to recharge them, and they dont seem to last that long. There was a tv program on some guy who used to drive here drive there (not far) and then had to stop places and try and recharge his car..I guess if it caught on, and service stations had plugin points (and didnt charge an arm and a leg) then it would be fairly cool. I however like the reassuring noise a normal engine makes :)

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