Wrightspeed builder touts his electric supercar
With all the recent attention on the Tesla, Ian Wright is in full gear promoting his exotic Wrightspeed X1 electric supercar.
Promising a 0-60 time of three seconds and 0-100-0 clocking of 11.2 seconds, the X1 can deliver supercar performance but is it practical? With an open cockpit, a seat that doesn't look comfortable and a nose begging to be tested against a wall, the X1 will turn heads but it's strictly for afternoon drives. No commuting or even weekend trips in this $120,000 boy toy.
However, expanding the definition of an electric supercar is exciting. Wright is facing the same problem that any electric-car manufacturer does: short battery life. His 538-pound battery pack is good for about 100 miles light cruising but only 25 in all-out racing trim. That's about 10 laps at Willow Springs.
Wright, who used to work at Tesla, sees a large supercar market but also finds that owners can quickly become bored with their cars. He thinks the performance of his car will make the difference.
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[Source: CNET]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DPC car videos 4:46PM (9/28/2006)
That's awesome, can't wait for future super cars to have electric motor option.
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Tony Belding 7:26PM (9/28/2006)
I'm really puzzled by Wrightspeed X1. This car is a novelty, a technological stunt, with all the impracticality and narrow appeal of the Ariel Atom that the X1 is based upon. I've been wondering for a while when Ian Wright is going to leave the X1 experiment behind and show us the REAL product. And it's slowly dawning on me that the X1 is it. That's the product.
I suppose a handful of people will go for it, and maybe Wright is happy to leave it at that. Yet I can't help wondering why he isn't pushing more in the direction of Tesla, since they are producing something more like a "real car" with much broader appeal, which has really grabbed the imagination of so many.
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