A team of Dutch students has set a new acceleration record for an EV. In a recent run at Valkenburg Airport, the Delft University of Technology Racing Team achieved 100 km/h (62 mph) in 2.13 seconds, according to team manager Tim de Morée. This represents a 20% improvement over the previous record (the new record is still awaiting official certification from the Guinness Book of World Records).

The team went to great lengths to achieve maximum acceleration. Their custom-built car, which has an all-wheel drive system and generates 135 hp (101 kw) of power, is feather-light, and so is driver Marly Kuijpers. They even poured a little sugar-water on the strip to improve traction.

Some comparisons: the Tesla Roadster Sport Model does 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds; the Spark-Renault SRT_01E electric race car that will be driven in the inaugural FIA Formula E Championship is expected to reach around 3 seconds; the current record for any street-legal car (which the Dutch team’s car is most certainly not) belongs to the gas-powered Ariel Atom, which gets the job done in 2.3 seconds.

Image: Delft University of Technology
Source: IEEE Spectrum, Wikipedia