http://www.carscoops.com/2013/04/all-electric-westfield-iracer-silently.html [images] All-Electric Westfield iRacer Silently Takes to the Track [w/Video] By Andrei Nedelea Apr 08 2013 References Wired
[images http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hqnZ9RMNDAY/UWL0qylpvXI/AAAAAAAMYRM/elboSDESyzg/s1600/Westfield-iRacer-4.jpg http://lh3.ggpht.com/-whozSWfqVY0/UWLzuV7T0bI/AAAAAAAMYQM/OK-Wehs11W0/s1600/Westfield-iRacer-2%25255B3%25255D.jpg http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Kx9_FYVMntw/UWLzvgH-VjI/AAAAAAAMYQc/I_vtdUKT34A/s1600/Westfield-iRacer-3%25255B3%25255D.jpg http://lh6.ggpht.com/-U7LpKkl2Pqk/UWLzw818lKI/AAAAAAAMYQs/f5fQWUa2m_g/s1600/Westfield-iRacer-4%25255B2%25255D.jpg http://lh3.ggpht.com/-282sGfOVz4M/UWLzyKmk-rI/AAAAAAAMYQ8/oVNicnM6iUA/s1600/Westfield-iRacer-5%25255B3%25255D.jpg video http://youtube.com/watch?v=dmKBvlsusvc Westfield IRacer Julian Turner Mar 12, 2013 Track Testing of the Westfield IRACER, pure electric race car! ] Electric Vehicle technology is still quite expensive nowadays, and that's mostly down to the crazy-high cost of good batteries. It seems that before wider acceptance is to occur, it is down to small limited-production manufacturers to make the really interesting electric cars, leaving mainstream names to tackle the problems of cost, packaging, safety and financial feasibility. Small manufacturers have a very wide assortment of off-the shelf parts which are of high quality and offer great performance for the buck – take the iRacer, which is made by Westfield in the UK, for example. However, it wasn't the lightweight specialists alone who built it, as it was a collaborative effort between the manufacturer and the Birmingham City University. The result is a very quick stripped-out EV, which can sprint to 62 mph (100 km/h) in under five seconds, and is limited to 115 mph (185 km/h) at the top end. If one were to remove the limiter, it reportedly nudges to 140 mph (224 km/h). The exact range of the vehicle is not specified, but its 23 kWh battery pack is good for 25 flat-out minutes around a track. Now, if they want to achieve their goals of possibly starting a one-make EV racing series, as well as selling it to educational institutions, a higher-capacity pack would be required. Nevertheless, these cars come in kit form, and if you find a better power supply that fits in the same space as the one provided by the manufacturer, it should not be a problem to install it, due to the endlessly-customizable nature of vehicles like this. Perhaps they'll sell some of these EVs in Sweden, where they've just opened a new showroom/dealership. If you want to get a feel for what the iRacer is like, check out the video after the jump, but be warned that around the half-way point, a bug hits the camera lens and blocks part of the view – that still leaves you with over four minutes of silent onboard footage, so a general impression can be made. [© 2013 Carscoop & Carscoops] http://gas2.org/2013/04/09/video-westfield-i-racer-ev-kit-hits-the-track/ Video: Westfield i-Racer EV Kit Hits The Track Plenty of automakers and coachbuilders are building limited-production electric supercars with half-million dollar price tags, but Birmingham City University and Westfield have released this video of their $21,500 EV kit … For all EVLN posts use: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=evln&sort=date Here are today's archive-only EV posts: EVLN: Estonia encourages Baltic Sea States use EVs EVLN: Freego Electric Bikes & Trikes EVents: EVs @2013 U.S. Earthdays EVLN: Secure EVSE networks now, EVSE are vulnerable & cripple the grid EVLN: High Performance U.S. E-Motorcycles bound in Indonesian red-tape + EVLN: Meet ZelectricBug, the Zelectric Motors '63 VW {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Westfield-iRacer-kit-EV-takes-to-the-track-video-tp4662442.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
