Human ingenuity continues to address the important problems of the world, pushing vehicle acceleration time ever faster. A team of Swiss students has set a new world record for EV acceleration with an experimental race car that reached 62 mph in 1.513 seconds.
The Grimsel, built by the Academic Motorsports Club Zürich, shattered the previous world record of 1.779 seconds, which was set last year by a team at the University of Stuttgart.
For comparison, one of the quickest production vehicles is the hybrid Porsche 918 Spyder, which has been clocked as fast as 2.2 seconds. A Tesla Model S in Ludicrous mode does the job in 2.8 seconds.
The Grimsel has four wheel-hub motors that produce 200 hp – not much compared to a Model S, which musters 382 to 762, depending on the model. However the Grimsel’s 1,254 ft-lb (1,700 N-m) of torque, combined with a 370-pound carbon fiber body and individual traction control for each wheel, translate that power into maximal acceleration.
Source: ETH Zürich via Engadget