Another high-performance electric sportscar broke cover last week from an unlikely source. To be built by a 125 year-old Australian company specializing in aerospace, defense and electric vehicles, the less-than-US$215,000 gull-winged Varley evR450 was on display at the Third Annual Australian Electric Vehicle Conference.
Composites will enable the evR450 to be "featherweight" and development relationships with other EV specialists Tritium and Ultramotive have yielded some significant advantages for the vehicle, though we're unlikely to see those advantages announced until 2012.
The evR450 is believed to be running two Ultramotive CARBON motors, each with a peak power rating of 150kW (and 522 Nm of torque) and each offering continuous power of 58 kW (122 Nm). As the motors weighing only 40kg (excluding inductors), evR's 300 kW of peak power will be pushing a very light vehicle, and with in excess of 1000 Nm of torque, acceleration can be expected to be blistering.
The company is claiming a 0-100 km/h time of 3.8 seconds and an electronically-limited top speed of 200 km/h (125 mph). The evR450's range of 150 km (93.21 miles) can be doubled with an additional (but obviously heavier) lithium-ion battery pack.
The evR450 is powered by Lithium Ion cells in a 24Kwh pack and can be easily charged by plugging in to mains power. The Inverters that control the AC motors are described as "state of the art", coming off the back of years of development in the electric solar racing industry.
But right now we\'ve only seen approaches to the two extremes of the market. The very-boring-but-economical (mainly by the big brands) or the very-sporty-and-insanely-expensive (mainly by everybody else) ends.
Has NOBODY seen the need for a mid-sized sedan/hatchback with decent performance? (Honda played nice with the CR-Z, but something a lil roomier?) Something like an EV/hybrid equivalent of the Honda Civic 1.8. Basically 140-160bhp combined, good handling and with decent room, both for passengers and in the boot.
The technology exists to go directly to a reliable Electric, look at the EV-1 from GM, the only problem is that major car manufacturers have found another way of squeezing more money out of us - The Hybrid. Especially when it comes to the electrically assisted Internal combustion type hybrids - Why bother? The Range extending type hybrids which are essentially EV\'s with a gas generator in the boot/trunk, are at least a step in the right direction.
Here\'s a big thumbs up to all the privateers \"smaller companies\" out there who are the ones truly pushing the boundaries!