Formula EV X-01
Stuart flipped his lid when he found this all-electric racer hiding in the corner of the L.A. auto show, although he warned me that the rep didn’t speak English very well, so these details might be sketchy.
The Formula EV X-01 comes all the way from Japan where it competes in the Japan EV Club (JEVC). Sponsored by Yokohama tires, the EV racer weighs 1,322 lbs. without batteries, which themselves weigh 582 lbs. The NiMh batteries come from Panasonic EV Energy and produce a combined 237 volts that run through Café Electric Zilla Z1K-EHV motor controllers to twin Advanced DC Motors XP-1227-A. Total power output for the EV X-01 is 209kW or 284 hp, which can propel the vehicle to speeds around 168 mph.
JEVC has 250 vehicles, including electric racing go-karts that can go 112 mph.
More pics after the jump...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Phil 2:32AM (2/08/2006)
Awesome pics...
anybody know how long the batteries last?
it would be cool if these cars were everywhere and every major city had a nice nuclear power plant...
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Brent 2:39AM (9/17/2006)
This looks alot like the Formula Lightning race cars that several universities have been running here in the US for over 10 years. For more info on the Formula Lightning race cars visit WVU's FL homepage. http://www.csee.wvu.edu/~formula/
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Christopher Robison 12:17AM (1/06/2006)
This car is an amazing feat of engineering. I am especially impressed by the third picture showing glimpses of the drivetrain.
Equally impressive is the technology in those two green cubes, 1000A Zilla liquid-cooled controllers designed and built here in the USA by one of electric motorsport's most influential personalities. Electric drag racing today is almost entirely based on Otmar Ebenhoech's Zilla controllers -- you're either running a Zilla, you're running something custom, or you're just not competitive.
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