August 28, 2009

Could race cars go electric?

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_NASCAR

"According to NASCAR, about 6,000 U.S. gallons (~22,700 litres) of fuel are consumed during a typical Sprint Cup weekend.[9] For the 2006 season, which includes 36 points races, the total for the season would be 216,000 U.S. gallons (818,000 litres). One environmental critic recently estimated NASCAR's total fuel consumption across all series at 2 million U.S. gallons (7.57 million liters) of gas for one season;[10] however, the methodology used has been a point of dispute."

Electric motors have better torque, so how long before they go electric?

Pretty soon!

Here's a nice description of that electric torque, vs a Porsche:

"Zero-to-60 mph acceleration is less than 4 seconds, which is Ferrari quick. Around a tight, technical racetrack, the Tesla will beat the pants off your garden-variety supercar." LA Times

The Chevy Corvette, with a monster 6.2 liter, eight cylinder, 430 horsepower engine takes 4.6 seconds. The Tesla accelerates faster than the Porsche 911. Faster than the Ferrari Spider....I can say with certainty, now, that if anyone doubts whether all-electric cars can compete: they can. Scientific American

"The all-electric sports car is faster than Porsche 911 or Audi R8 yet is six times as efficient as conventional sports cars." Tesla achieved overall corporate profitability in July, thanks to strong demand for the Roadster. http://green.autoblog.com/2009/10/27/tesla-roadster-runs-313-miles-on-a-charge-in-global-green-challe/

Here's a 0-60 in 3.5 seconds electric Ford Pinto dragster! allcarselectric.com
and opb.org

Here's a discussion of low-CO2 Formula One: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing/formula-zero-carbon-motor-racing-without-the-emissions-1775819.html

Here's a good discussion of EV racing.

**Edit

See http://www.nedra.com/

No comments: