How better to power the underwater sQuba car than on batteries?

I briefly looked at Autoblog's mention of the sQuba concept the other day, but I must have been too astounded by the idea of a submersible car to realize that, hey, that thing's all-electric. ABG tipster Domenick, though, sent in a note about the sQuba and pointed out that this ridiculous little thing is a ZEV. The sQuba won't be used by James Cameron any time soon, but it can go up to 10 meters underwater and contains an oxygen supply in the cab.

The power, according to Gizmag, comes from a 37 kW electric motor for on-land use and two 3.6 kW rear jet drives for underwater propulsion. Oh, and the sQuba can also drive itself. That's a lot of concepts to put into one concept car, but Rinspeed won't need to worry about unhappy customers; this thing is a one-off destined for the stand at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show, and that's it.

[Source: Autoblog, Gizmag. H/t to Domenick]

Press Release

Is it just a clever computer animation or maybe more a fiction from a Hollywood movie? Or is it actually a real car sitting there? Many visitors to the upcoming Geneva Motor Show (March 6th thru 16th, 2008) will ask themselves just these questions when faced with the new Rinspeed creation "sQuba" - the worlds first real diving car. This astonishing concept vehicle from the renowned Swiss powerhouse for new designs and ideas looks almost like it just came out of a James Bond movie.

Its capabilities not only to drive on roads - and this also at a push of a button autonomously (thus without a driver, passenger or further assistance) - but also to agitate as an amphibious vehicle and to protrude to water depth of up to 10 meters (33 feet) go beyond the scope of many human virtues of imagination.

For Rinspeed boss Frank M. Rinderknecht the "sQuba" symbolizes the realization of a long-cherished dream and of movie fictions - of which perhaps the most noted out of the James Bond film hit "The spy who loved me". "And exactly thirty years later this amazing - yet at the time animated - film sequence materializes and becomes reality, in today's world", says Rinderknecht.

Definitely part of the material world is the power of the concept car: An electric motor with powerful torque drives the rear wheels. The propulsion on the water is ensured by two propellers in the stern and two powerful jet drives in the bow propel the vehicle under water while diving. With zero emissions, zero pollution in the seven seas of this world. The light weight body with components made of futuristic Carbon Nano Tubes encloses in a streamlined manner the driver and passenger who are supplied with fresh breathing air by the self-contained on-bord system.

A new and fascinating world is opening to the occupants of the "sQuba" which will remain most likely - as its predecessors - a unique and exclusive one-off vehicle. But: Attention guaranteed.