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123 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+53Secret pwning weapon: The flux capacitor.
- crackhammer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22Better hope that car doesn't have Sony batteries... BOOOOOM!!!!
- RadiantBeing, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23The difference in acceleration has much more to do with the weight of the cars than their powerplants. Compare this to the Ariel Atom, a gas-powered car in a similar weight class. The Atom, a 1000 pound performance car, was the second fastest car on BBC's Top Gear--faster than the Porsche Carrerra GT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdkEV-t9jg0 - RadiantBeing, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18Apparently the Wrightspeed is just an Ariel X1 fitted with an electric powerplant:
"The Wrightspeed X1 is an Ariel Atom sports car modified to use an all-electric powertrain. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrightspeed_X1 - dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17"right, my jeep grand cherokee can take most cars light to light but if the race gets to be 400 yards or more I'm taking 2nd place :-("
Who the hell races Jeep Grand Cherokees? - icealchemist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16When an electric car wins Le Mans, let me know.
- funkpucker, on 10/12/2007, -8/+22Ariel Atom with an electric motor. No big news. The Atom could beat them anyhow... with just a supercharged Honda engine.
- Topher06, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Except distance races.
- seattle98104, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13cool, been waiting for some footage of this.
- shertzerj, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11That Ferrari'll be laughing when his race partner runs out of juice 50 miles down the road though.
- rkettner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Distance races... no problem: Just use wireless power!
http://digg.com/hardware/CPU_magazine_falls_for_ThinkGeek.com_s_April_Fool_s_prank,_the_WEC - jguy584, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10The reason is that an electric motor can instantly spin to 30,000 rpms or whatever its limit is and it provides incredible torque at very very low rpms. The catch is that electric motors have a fairly low top speed. If those races were more then just a quarter mile, both the Ferrari and Porsche would have crushed the atom.
- gavroche, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9it should have at least try to beat a f1
- GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6First, diesel engines are essentially the same as gasoline engines, electric engines are radically different than any internal combustion engines
Second, an electric car wont have the endurance to finish the race and probably doesn't meet race regulations. - mlkmnz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7*sigh* More proof America can't do a car review to save themselves. Where's the TopGear review?
- goodnewsevery1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7This is a simple torque to weight issue. The gas powered sports cars weigh over twice as much and are fully street legal.
- DuneAdx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6But which is which?
- dickeytk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6i wasn't sticking up for oil companies, i was just saying these tests are flawed, these tests have nothing to do with emissions, drivability, handling, nothing, all this is displaying is acceleration, and the ferrari was not built for this type of acceleration, there are much faster gasoline cars, MUCH faster ones
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+11Further proof that battery tech was squashed waaaay back in the day. If we had electric cars, who would buy saudi oil?
- clord, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6the atom is street-legal... and so are other light vehicles like motorcycles.
- davidrools, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5nuclear power is oil free...as are hydro and wind, though with lower output.
- x911gt2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I agree, the car is less than half the weight of the other cars, plus it lacks things like AC, leather seats and all the things that make a car, a car. Plus it looks like *****. I'll take one of the other two any day before that thing.
- crackhammer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I agree, the electric powered car IS the bicycle in this scenario - 1500 lbs vs. the ferarri's 3000 lbs - interesting video though since we can see a proof of concept electric performance car (a breath of fresh air compared to all the hybrid marketing going around lately)
- dickeytk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6oh and the supercharged GAS ariel atom 2 went 0-100 in 6.86 seconds, this one did 104 in 11, good, but oh! surprise surprise! the gas was faster!
- elnerdo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Because it takes 1000 lbs of batteries to go 250 miles, and not nearly that amount of diesel fuel to go 250 miles?
- Catchpen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7The power plants that would charge your battery powered car would have to buy the Saudi oil. Domestic coal and gas will only go so far. You can't just grab electricity out of the air...yet.
- crackhammer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Off topic but interesting - the guys in my PC games used to run scripts that triggered off of actions in the game. So I kill your character and the script types "good job n00b" or something similar. well these guys started putting in deliberate misspellings to make the competition think they were just super fast on the keyboards. the frequency with which this particular word was broadcast is how I believe "PWNED" came to life, as you said, a misspelling of "owned". And it is a little silly to hear the word spoken in xbox live.
Like I said - off topic but there you are. - scoy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7lame. you're comparing oranges and apples.
- KanosWRX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4First why were they all starting from a roll, shouldn't they go from a stop. And second that car the Atom is weights less then half as much as those cars, maybe even a third of the weight. I am sure if you put the ferrari or porsche engine in that little light weight go cart it would be just as fast if not faster. It's all about power to weight ratio. Lets see that electric engine in a equaly equiped and sized car. Not saying it isn't cool, I am all for fast cars.
- darwin22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'd rather have the supercharged gas ariel atom.
- crackhammer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I do when I'm feeling froggy - not official "start here and end here" races, but like I said, light to light. I do very well actually, since most of the imports I race are 1) poorly modified and 2) seem to have lower torque curves than I do. Given that set of circumstances I'll take most of the guys looking to beat me to the next intersection. The Jeep has tremendous torque and that gets me off the line faster than say, a Honda Civic. Even turbocharged they have to spool up the fans (or whatever). The car in this article also gains from a similar circumstance, an electric motor has a pretty linear torque curve.
I do like seeing the faces of guys I defeat... "only in a Jeep" - xfTwitch, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5The ariel's better with a supercharged gas motor. I'm sure the handling sucks with all the added weight of the batteries.
This is proof of nothing. Not proof that electric is better, that's for sure. Just that over a quarter mile, it can go faster than a couple of production cars. Not faster than a funny car, or a top fuel dragster that's for sure. And a quarter mile, or even a zero to 60/100 speed check isn't a true indicator of a cars performance.
If they want to prove something, build an electric car that can win at LeMans... - ISEEDEADPEOPLE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3prefer ths any day
http://www.teslamotors.com/ - catmistake, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/the_hybrid_mini.php
from a previous digg story... I'd really like this - rkettner, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Yes, one is a delicious fruit while the other is the source of refreshing juice.
- behn1220, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I've decided I will never digg an article that has any iteration of the "word" "pwn" in the title ever again. Lets fine another geeky word to fad on...its time.
- ActionJeans, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's the low end torque electric motors generate that makes them so good from a standing start. That electric drill you have? It's just as hard to stop with your hand at a complete stop, as it is in motion. Electric motors don't really have power bands like combustion engines have. They produce their maximum power from a 0 rpm, wheas a combustion motor is idles at roughly 800 to 1000 rpm, and really only start making power about 3000 rpm.
Exceptions to this rule are motors which are tuned to produce power at lower rpms, like diesel trucks. They need more power and torque available to them at lower rpm's, in order to be able to tow trailers, etc... Even still, they must be spinning to generate any power at all.
I'm all for electric vehicles. But I don't have $150,000, or even $30,000 to spend on a vehicle that will just be usable too and from work. I spent about $1000 total on my current commuter vehicle: A bicycle. And I too have about 150 mile range. I can even be used to produce natural gas.
It's a great proof of concept though. I'd love to see electric vehicles in the $8,000 to $12,000 range with a 50 mile range. They also need to have AC, a decent stereo, comfortable seats, and a trunk. Electric motors, compared to I.C.E.'s are much easier to produce, as they have far fewer moving parts. I think it's the batteries and electronic controls that make them so expensive. So many problems to address as well, I mean, what do you do when you have 1 million electric cars in circulation, and you've got to find somewhere to put the spent and discarded batteries? These aren't D cells, they are HUGE. Environmentalist embrace these vehicles without even mentioning that, when that should be integral to any serious development for electric vehicles.
err... two cents. - chedabob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2id have an ariel atom over a ferrari anyday. cheaper, and they look ***** cool.
- Krush, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Power to weight, that's all that matters at the strip. I own an 06' Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, it's heavy but with a 6.1 liter HEMI it pulls 13.4's and 0-60 in around 4.7 (ideal conditions) stock. There are some videos floating around of the Jeep road racing against Mustangs and the like, and it will out corner them too. The Jeep is proof that when the car companies take the cuffs off there engineers, they can do some amazing things. The Ariel Atom and Writespeed are proof that the future for car enthusiasts is bright. Now if they can just get the sound that makes the old lady next to me at the light crap her pants when I mash the gas, then I'll buy one.
- THMike, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The Tesla (at around $90k) is still a lot less expensive than the Ferrari, though.
- clord, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The reason we went with internal combustion is intresting. Petrol was a virtually free waste product — perhaps the only reason internal combustion won out. At the time, most cars on the road were electric. Electrics of the time had greater range, greater power, were easy to start (no hand cranking), did not beltch black smoke, and were much simpler machines (almost every problem with the powertrain can be solved by changing the brushes).
Petrol-powered cars were for the poor middle-class people who were willing to put up with these limitations. Had Ford continued using electric power for its mass-produced vehicles, the technology may have advanced as far as internal combustion has. - Lososaurus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3So....he took the Atom, a car that weighs nearly nothing, put some super-torque-y electric motors in it and beat Ferrari's and a CGT, whoopdy-freakin-doo.
- nanomaton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I will never EVER tire of Jeremy's reaction to that car in the Top Gear video posted above (via YouTube). :D
- CraigJ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2yeah, might as well have been a motorsycle vs...
power-to-weight ratio anyone? - mllr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Ariel Atom ( http://www.arielatom.com )
- stainboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3i'm surprised this hasn't been pointed out yet. regardless of whether or not the electric car has greater acceleration than the other two cars... at least where i'm from, it will NOT GET YOU LAID.
- crackhammer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I guess I'm trying to wrap my brain around the digg voting concept... back in this forum "ImTheDarkcyde" stated the exact same request to eradicate this word from the digg lexicon and he was dugg down (along with me for agreeing with him)... but then "behn1220" reiterates this post and is dugg UP... I'm not trying to call anyone out, but can someone explain this?.
- shertzerj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@technique
You seem like a Ford Ercort driver. Perhaps a Calavier? Oh that's right, it was replaced by the Coablt. VEY-RON, not VER-YON. Either you just suck at sarcasm or you don't know your exotics. - demps, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Lame story. I would sure as hell hope that electrified Atom would beat Ferrari's slowest model... not to mention it weighs a 1/3 of that what the Ferrari weighs.
Maybe if I post a video of a gas powered beating a Ferrari that'll be dugg to the main page too! - mlkmnz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Yeah I'm with Daiken. Lets shoot down electric propulsion and discourage it wherever possible. Petrol is the way of the future!
Moron.
If you listened to the guy they interviewed, this vehicle is planned to be the predecessor of cheaper family orientated electric vehicles in the near future. And seeing as the big car makers can only come up with something antiquated like a Hybrid or some long distance pipe dream of Hydrogen I'm all for initiatives like this. -
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