First announced last October, the reborn, all-electric Delorean has made a surprise appearance at the New York Auto Show this year. It's a surprise because not even Delorean Motor Company president Stephen Wynne knew he was going to be here until a few weeks ago, when show organizers called with an invite.
With a prime spot near the EV ride along track – the DMCev is sadly not involved – Wynne said he's been getting good attention, even though said track is in the basement. We asked Wynne what's been going on with the car since last fall's announcement and the short answer is that this is one EV concept that's going into production.
The target date for fans to buy the DMCev is early 2013, but a lot has to happen between now and then. Right now, all the company has is the converted DMC-12 to show off the technology. To create this, the designers had to add 200 pounds of stuff, and the production version is going to be either the same weight as the gas version, or a few pounds less, in order to improve both performance and range. The car is powered by a 32-kWh lithium iron phosphate battery pack and has a 125 mile per hour top speed with a range of 100 miles. Published specs claim a 0-60 time of 4.9 seconds, but Wynne said the target is now under six seconds. Price for all this fun? $95,000.
DMC will assemble the car in Houston, TX with a lot of help from Louisiana's Epic EV, the company working on the Torq and Amp vehicles (not the Amp conversions). These two companies are testing different motor/inverter combinations for the electric Delorean, and Wynne said they are looking for a "proven product" from a company that has at least "several hundred" units on the road. The current prototype also uses a DC motor, but the production will use AC for better range, performance and regenerative braking ability. The old-school dashboard is also due for an upgrade
Those are the details we could glean in New York. Can you believe we made it through this entire post without a Back To The Future reference? The DMCev can't do it, though, with a license plate that reads "Gas? Where we're going we don't need gas" and a battery that carries the "Flux Power" nickname. For more, you can watch a video of Translogic going for a ride in the DMCev down below, where you'll also find a related press release.
With a prime spot near the EV ride along track – the DMCev is sadly not involved – Wynne said he's been getting good attention, even though said track is in the basement. We asked Wynne what's been going on with the car since last fall's announcement and the short answer is that this is one EV concept that's going into production.
The target date for fans to buy the DMCev is early 2013, but a lot has to happen between now and then. Right now, all the company has is the converted DMC-12 to show off the technology. To create this, the designers had to add 200 pounds of stuff, and the production version is going to be either the same weight as the gas version, or a few pounds less, in order to improve both performance and range. The car is powered by a 32-kWh lithium iron phosphate battery pack and has a 125 mile per hour top speed with a range of 100 miles. Published specs claim a 0-60 time of 4.9 seconds, but Wynne said the target is now under six seconds. Price for all this fun? $95,000.
DMC will assemble the car in Houston, TX with a lot of help from Louisiana's Epic EV, the company working on the Torq and Amp vehicles (not the Amp conversions). These two companies are testing different motor/inverter combinations for the electric Delorean, and Wynne said they are looking for a "proven product" from a company that has at least "several hundred" units on the road. The current prototype also uses a DC motor, but the production will use AC for better range, performance and regenerative braking ability. The old-school dashboard is also due for an upgrade
Those are the details we could glean in New York. Can you believe we made it through this entire post without a Back To The Future reference? The DMCev can't do it, though, with a license plate that reads "Gas? Where we're going we don't need gas" and a battery that carries the "Flux Power" nickname. For more, you can watch a video of Translogic going for a ride in the DMCev down below, where you'll also find a related press release.
The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience.
First some MATH:
The DMCev gets 2 to 3 miles per kWh (KiloWatt Hour = 1,000watts being used for 1 hour) depending on driving habits and terrain
The DMCev has a 32kWh pack of Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries
This means the DMCev can travel between 64 and 96 miles on a charge depending on driving habits and terrain
This also means that you can buy a full tank of "electrons" for the DMCev for about $2.25 (at 7cents per kWh of home electricity costs)
At $2.25 for about 100 miles of driving the DMCev cost about 2 cents per mile to drive
When compared to the gasoline engine version DMC at 20mpg you are comparing a per mile fuel cost of 15 cents per mile (at $3 per gallon gas) to 2 cents for DMCev use. This means the DMCev is 8 times more efficient than the gas engine version in terms of cost.
Answers to Common Questions:
The DMCev will typically be driven less than 40 miles per day and will be able to be recharged from a common 110v household power outlet in 3 to 4 hours. With a 220v outlet or a charging station then you would charge in less than 2 hours.
The J1772 Plug is capable of 220v @ 50a which allows the Flux Power Charger to recharge the pack in a couple of hours with common driving (and 4 to 5 hours if the battery pack is really drained)
The energy to "fuel" the DMCev can also come from wind or solar which makes it even better for the environment and costs even less
An electric motor has only ONE moving part which makes it much less fault prone versus a combustion engine with hundreds of moving parts
The Flux Power Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries in this vehicle are "Safe Lithium" and are combined with oxygen in the manufacturing process so they do not explode if compromised in an impact
Oil is a GREAT natural resource. The more we can preserve it for future uses like fertilizers, fabrics, and plastics the better. Once you burn oil through a tail pipe it is gone forever and you never get it back, so every move to powering vehicles with electrons versus oil gets us closer to a future where we have oil available for other uses
Why DeLorean?
Electric drive technology lasts for many, many years so these DMCev vehicles will likely be re-powered with new batteries over and over again making them the ULTIMATE in recycled products.
The brand and vehicles have already lasted for 30 years and most of these vehicles will still be running in another 60. And new advanced battery technology over the years will only increase their range over time.
It takes over 800 gallons of oil (20 barrels) to manufacture a new car (even with recycled content) so this is another reason to re-use versus even recycling or disposing of old vehicles
The DMCev gets 2 to 3 miles per kWh (KiloWatt Hour = 1,000watts being used for 1 hour) depending on driving habits and terrain
The DMCev has a 32kWh pack of Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries
This means the DMCev can travel between 64 and 96 miles on a charge depending on driving habits and terrain
This also means that you can buy a full tank of "electrons" for the DMCev for about $2.25 (at 7cents per kWh of home electricity costs)
At $2.25 for about 100 miles of driving the DMCev cost about 2 cents per mile to drive
When compared to the gasoline engine version DMC at 20mpg you are comparing a per mile fuel cost of 15 cents per mile (at $3 per gallon gas) to 2 cents for DMCev use. This means the DMCev is 8 times more efficient than the gas engine version in terms of cost.
Answers to Common Questions:
The DMCev will typically be driven less than 40 miles per day and will be able to be recharged from a common 110v household power outlet in 3 to 4 hours. With a 220v outlet or a charging station then you would charge in less than 2 hours.
The J1772 Plug is capable of 220v @ 50a which allows the Flux Power Charger to recharge the pack in a couple of hours with common driving (and 4 to 5 hours if the battery pack is really drained)
The energy to "fuel" the DMCev can also come from wind or solar which makes it even better for the environment and costs even less
An electric motor has only ONE moving part which makes it much less fault prone versus a combustion engine with hundreds of moving parts
The Flux Power Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries in this vehicle are "Safe Lithium" and are combined with oxygen in the manufacturing process so they do not explode if compromised in an impact
Oil is a GREAT natural resource. The more we can preserve it for future uses like fertilizers, fabrics, and plastics the better. Once you burn oil through a tail pipe it is gone forever and you never get it back, so every move to powering vehicles with electrons versus oil gets us closer to a future where we have oil available for other uses
Why DeLorean?
Electric drive technology lasts for many, many years so these DMCev vehicles will likely be re-powered with new batteries over and over again making them the ULTIMATE in recycled products.
The brand and vehicles have already lasted for 30 years and most of these vehicles will still be running in another 60. And new advanced battery technology over the years will only increase their range over time.
It takes over 800 gallons of oil (20 barrels) to manufacture a new car (even with recycled content) so this is another reason to re-use versus even recycling or disposing of old vehicles
Featured Gallery Delorean Electric: New York 2012
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