Popular Mechanics reporter Benjamin Chertoff was leaving the New York Auto Show on Saturday when a bright red roadster lurking down a side street caught his attention. Turns out it was the Mullen Motor GT turned into the L1X-75 electric car by Hybrid Technologies that we told you about at last year's New York show.It also happens that Ben was able to talk his way into an impromptu test drive around New York's crowded streets. While it's not easy to tap the potential of 600 hp or to challenge Mullen's claim of 175 mph in bumper-to-bumper, Ben at least found one traffic-free block to sample lithium-powered acceleration.
Watching a car burning off an inch or two of rear rubber in almost dead silence is eerily unnatural. If electric cars are where we're headed, their quiet operation, especially performance cars, is gonna take some getting used to. But 0-60 times of 3.1 seconds could help ease us into the future.
Full press release from Hybrid Technologies after the jump.
[Source: Popular Mechanics]
HYBRID TECHNOLOGIES INC. (OTCBB: HYBT) ANNOUNCES THE UNVEILING OF THEIR CARBON FIBER LITHIUM SUPER CAR (L1X-75) AND OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE DISTRIBUTOR - DEALER NETWORK PROGRAM AT THE 2007 NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL AUTO SHOW
Hybrid's answer to the Ferrari to be media and general public attraction as they celebrate their third year at one of the world's largest auto shows.
LOS ANGELES, CA AND NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 28, 2007 - Hybrid Technologies, Inc. (NASD OTCBB: HYBT - News) www.hybridtechnologies.com, emerging leaders in the development and marketing of lithium battery powered products worldwide, is pleased to announce that it will be conducting interviews and product demonstrations for prospective VIP clients who are interested in obtaining an exclusive license to distribute Hybrid Technologies' full line of products. Qualified media can also request a product demonstration at this years' New York International Auto Show (NYIAS).
To celebrate the launch of the Distributor - Dealer Program, Hybrid will unveil the 2007 L1X-75 aimed at the exotic sports car market. The L1X-75 is a highly advanced carbon fiber, lithium powered sports car with uncompromising power, style and torque.
Hybrid Technologies strategically selected the NYIAS as the stage to announce and implement the long awaited Distributor-Dealer Network Program, due to their media history and public success at one of the world's largest auto shows which provides the opportunity to capture the minds and attention of the millions that pass through the doors of the Jacob Javits Convention Center.
"Our lithium battery propelled products emerged from decades of experience in both our proprietary Battery Technologies and Battery Management Systems (B.M.S). With our manufacturing, testing and development experience combined with engineering excellence, places us in a very unique position to offer this exciting program" states Mr. Frank Ziegler, Director of Sales and Distribution for HYBT. "We are the ONLY Company in the world that can offer this technology and business model to the general public through licensing. Through exclusive technological innovations and proprietary systems, our licensees are able offer this exclusive technology with virtually no competitive market."
Each Distributor assigned to an exclusive territory (800,000 population and above) will offer a full service center parts department, showroom, test drives, inventory and sales. In addition, the Distributor will have a roll out time line to establish 25 outside sales representatives or "dealerships" throughout their territory.
Under the Distributor-Dealer enhanced market plan, each Distributor and Dealer will have access to a complete marketing engine and pre-formatted marketing materials and personalized website. Furthermore, Hybrid Technologies will hold a one week training class and support at our state of the art facility in North Carolina, prior to opening.
Hybrid Technologies will be launching this program as well as sneak previews and product demonstrations at Hybrid's booth (D2 - level four) in the Jacob Javits Convention Center on April 7th - 15th at the New York International Auto Show.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
ruggels @ Apr 8th 2007 3:19PM
"the lithium batteries... produce 600hp"
mmm I want me some of those batteries. Oh why oh why car people can’t do these things is beyond me.
nice kit car, however lack of anything to make it dot compliant pretty much nixes any excitement I might have, vs the telsa, well that and the announcer’s dribble, by far the worst i’ve heard.
bob @ Apr 8th 2007 3:27PM
Let's just hope Sony didn't make those lithium batteries.
Kent Beuchert @ Apr 8th 2007 5:32PM
Same old, same old. Tesla gets attention using gee-whiz horsepower and still can't get you to Las Vegas and back. How many $100K plus electric niche cars does this country really need?
ZAMBONO @ Apr 8th 2007 5:46PM
Having heard the growl of a Gallardo many times I can honestly say that electric sports / exotics won't go very far any time soon. The sound of the lamborghini engine in idle can sell the car alone.
Tony Belding @ Apr 8th 2007 5:54PM
I'm not sure where you live, Kent. Las Vegas is an awfully long way from my home. However, an electric car can go on long trips. See here:
http://kingoftheroad.net/charge_across_america/charge_html/chargehome.html
Don't forget the Tesla has more than twice the range of the car he used. I'm not saying it's anything like the best car for long trips, but it just irks me a little when people throw around the word "can't" so casually.
It's also fair to ask. . . How many $100K plus gasoline-powered niche cars does this country need? People just keep on buying them for some reason. It's really for the free market to decide.
Talis @ Apr 8th 2007 5:55PM
There is something missing... Oh yeah, the roar of a good ol' fashioned V8.
jvvv @ Apr 8th 2007 5:56PM
The cool thing about those is that you got the whole same torue and power from the beginning till the end. Those things are extremely fun to drive! The only thing you miss is the noise of exploding fuel in the engine...
HotRodzNKustoms @ Apr 8th 2007 6:22PM
I'll stick with my nasty cams, high compression, pollution creating, gas guzzling 'Merican V-8 muscle, if I was forced to drive one of these I'd get a recording of a nasty Cobra to play on the CD player!
moltenblogger @ Apr 8th 2007 6:45PM
quoted jvw:
"The cool thing about those is that you got the whole same torue and power from the beginning till the end. "
Actually that's not true; electric motors start off at maximum torque and then it decreases as the motor speed increases.
Frank @ Apr 8th 2007 7:08PM
The sound is a big part of the driving experience.
Das Boese @ Apr 8th 2007 7:22PM
@ #9:
Wrong.
There isn't just one type of "electric motor". There are many, which all have different characteristics, and these can further be varied with electronics.
Deezee @ Apr 8th 2007 7:37PM
Back in my day we had REAL engines powered by steam.
Now THAT is how an engine should sound. Releasing the purge valve on the steam tank puts modern engines to shame. All car makers should switch to steam power so we can get some real sounding engines not these sissy gasoline powered ones.
Still tho, nothing beats the sound of a horse and buggy. You get chills as each hoof hits the pavement. Thats some real power right there.
The Gupta @ Apr 8th 2007 8:20PM
HAHAHAHA...I totally agree Deezee. Is it just me or does this car kinda look like a toy. There something about the proportions and the paint of the car that make the PopMech guy look like a kid...
Andrew @ Apr 8th 2007 9:50PM
that car has no soul. a yaris has more soul than that car. it's just a heartless bi-polar monster trying to get high on lithium. but ill take one in black if they can mount a tesla coil to the front. w00t!
Cain @ Apr 8th 2007 11:50PM
What motor do they put in these things?
You cant get 600 HP from lithium. Lithium is a bettery technology. You do not hook up a bettery to a wheel and it magiclly spins.
I want to see a homebrew market for EV cars. I do not care about going super-sonic fast. Let me get up to 85 as fast as a civic and stay there for 2 hours. Even better let me do 3 hours of stop and start traffic. I live in Atlanta and if I could drive across the metro at highway speeds (70+ in Atlanta) and home I can charge while I sleep. Or let me get a 50kW charger at home. A123 is predicting 10 mins 100km. That would be very nice.
Jeff @ Apr 9th 2007 12:00AM
I'm currently working on my third electric vehicle at school, this one is a hybrid FSAE car... I can tell you from experience that the sound of an electric motor winding up can be plenty exhilarating. I think that feeling of exhilaration that we get from the noise of an engine is the association of that noise to the feeling of going real fast. Once you feel how hard an electric vehicle can push, you'll thoroughly enjoy the sound of an electric motor.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Apr 9th 2007 1:42AM
"Electric racecar"
There's no such thing as an electric race car.
You could put $150,000 worth of batteries in it, and you'll still only be able to race for 20 mins or so on a track before the batteries die.
The energy density just isn't good enough for real racing.
Even a car like the Tesla which gets a good range is mostly doing so because of great efficiency. That means it uses a lot less energy than a gas car to go a certain distance.
But on the track, where you are constantly accelerating up to huge speeds and then braking down again, efficiency won't cut it. You need a lot of energy, and batteries don't have it.
And no, regenerative braking won't help either, race cars stop a lot faster than they accelerate, and a system that can only produce enough energy to go 0-60 in 4 seconds cannot absorb all the energy returned when you go 60-0 in 1.5. It just has to dump 3/4 of it into the brakes.
Alan @ Apr 9th 2007 4:16AM
"I want to see a homebrew market for EV cars. I do not care about going super-sonic fast. Let me get up to 85 as fast as a civic and stay there for 2 hours. Even better let me do 3 hours of stop and start traffic."
I second that. A longer range would be nice. And a low price. It needs to look decent, none of this "SmartCar" stuff.
Deezee @ Apr 9th 2007 6:51AM
#17
There IS such a thing as an electric race car. And it can go 2000 miles between fill ups unlike wussy le'mans cars that have to fill up every few laps. ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunraycer
The amount of distance a car goes has nothing to do with its "race" worthiness. Funny-cars and Dragsters are race cars too and they only travel 1/4 mile.
If you stuck a bunch of teslas on a track and had them race, they would all be racecars. Even if they only went 1 lap.
Helmi @ Apr 9th 2007 4:11PM
Now, to replace old fashioned cars, just make it burn oil or coal or something which can be bought for large sums of money.
Otherwise, no one will ever hear of this.