Video: Lightning GT unveiled, in action, and spotlighted
The freshly unveiled all-electric Lightning GT we showed you yesterday is certainly garnering a lot of attention and video tape at this years British International Motor Show. We received a message from British electric-car vlogger, Danny, telling us he had footage of the hi-tech silver beauty having its shroud publicly removed. We rushed to watch it and happily discovered he also had his own mini Q & A session with Lightning Car Company representative, Chris Dell. We got to hear some very interesting tidbits that answer some of the questions we've been getting. For instance, the range is less than we hoped for at about 150 to 180 miles (this should come as no surprise since the Altairnano batteries only have half the energy density of the cells used by Tesla). However, the size of the 36 Kwh battery pack can be increased. Mr Dell informs us the "nought to sixty" time should be under 4 seconds with its top speed limited to 130 mph. Just as impressive as its Tesla-challenging numbers was the way it looked with its linen removed, spinning on the turntable.
Another comment we heard a lot yesterday was that it's still vapor because it's not driveable. Our second video, though brief, dumps a lake full of cold water on this assumption. From RockaboxMedia comes teaser footage of the Lightning GT looking quite at home on a length of track. In true teaser fashion, most of the clip is soundless and in slow-motion but they promise they will bring us a full documentary on the creation and launch of the car. Unfortunately, they aren't sharing the embed code so you must go to YouTube to see it.
The last video we want to bring to your attention today is an Al Jazeera news piece that seems to hold the spotlight on the Lightning GT. We are briefly shown the NICE Mega City but most of the report seems to be spent contrasting the Tesla Roadster with the new UK contender. Find out which vehicle the British-accented presenter prefers as well as Danny's video after the jump.
Gallery: Lightning Car Company GT
[Source: Danny's Contentment / YouTube]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gabe 8:37PM (7/23/2008)
I love that the last video makes sure to use an even comparison for the tesla vs. the lightnening:
The Tesla is out of reach for most people at $120,000. And it has 6000 batteries and takes 3 hours to charge!!
The Lightening can go 300km on a single charge that only takes 10 minutes. And many people would gladly pay the 120,000 -160,000 pounds...and it goes zero to 94km in 4 seconds!
So glad to hear them using an apples to apples approach
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jake 10:08PM (7/23/2008)
I also find it funny that the video title "World's first electric sportscar" makes it sound like the Lightning GT is the first electric sportscar, given the footage focused a lot more on the GT than the Roadster.
The 150 to 180 miles is sobering to hear considering they were advertising 250 miles not that long ago (but it was expected given the smaller 36kWh battery). So it really is a case of trading off energy density vs fast charge capability.
So in a sense the 30 batteries still haven't really beaten the thousands of laptop batteries, even with the higher price.
Andy 9:09PM (7/23/2008)
"Another comment we heard a lot yesterday was that it's still vapor because it's not driveable. Our second video, though brief, dumps a lake full of cold water on this assumption."
The comments weren't assuming it was not drivable. They were critical of the assumption that it was a drivable high performance car before seeing any evidence.
Now we have video, we can see for ourselves that it is quite capable of 10 kph sprints in excess of 20 meters... clearly a Tesla killer if I ever saw one.
I'm just pointing it out when this blog blurs press releases and claims with actual news. Making -real- technological breakthroughs takes a lot of effort and should be rewarded with more respect than what is given to any clown who claims some record breaking specs without showing anybody.
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jake 10:20PM (7/23/2008)
I don't get why they used slow mo and why they cut out the sound (you hear some sound in one part so it's not youtube's problem). It made it look like the car was just creeping along. Not exactly how you want present a sports car. But at least it's drivable :P, which is better than the last PML MINI.
Just look at the difference compared to the Roadster:
Lightning GT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUVd_R-ikGw
vs
Tesla Roadster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09LlCKufLtc
Hopefully they make a better video soon.
Lightning GT fan 10:42PM (7/23/2008)
Maan. That is one awesome machine. Incredible that they can already charge 200 mile range cars like this Lightning in less than 10 minutes. Let's hope these kinds of batteries can get affordable someday for us mainstream drivers.
0-60 mph in less than 4 seconds will get this car instant respect with the Ferrari and Porsche enthusiasts. I bet this car will be amazing on a racetrack and on the autobahn in Europe. I liked the video of the unveiling. They should have played the song "I Can't Drive 55" by Sammy Hagar instead though. This supercar is going to go way over 55 mph in a VERY short amount of time. You might need to wear a g-suit on curves with this car like the fighter pilots do.
This car will be perfect for the next James Bond movie. No doubt about it. It's incredibly fast AND it's luxurious, quiet and gentlemanly in a British sort of way. It won't scare the horses when wealthy British blokes drive their GT to their country estates in the summer. Even the Queen would approve of this car. :)
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Tim 10:59PM (7/23/2008)
That video wasn't slow mo - look at the weeds - the car was literally rolling around at something less than 5mph. What a joke.
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Haqitman 11:23PM (7/23/2008)
Looks like it barely moves under its own power.
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Doug 11:45PM (7/23/2008)
Did you guys notice Darryl Siry and other Tesla folks in the background? Darryl is the guy holding the camera.
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Brody 8:34AM (7/24/2008)
For those of you who have never put together a high tech car like the Lightning or Tesla, you start really slow to verify everything is working properly.
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jake 2:35AM (7/24/2008)
Not when you are trying show your car is a 700hp electric sports car (they even call it a supercar in the video). For a normal gasoline car from an established automaker, even a sports car, I can understand a soundless video of the car cruising around (this is actually quite common, but even so it usually doesn't look as slow as the Lightning looked in this video) because there is no doubt the powertrain will work & little doubt it will get the horsepower numbers the manufacturer claims. For an alternative vehicle from a new company, it's not as good an idea.
It's a teaser video for a full documentary (the description leads me to believe that), so it should be showing the exciting parts (like most teasers do), not the car crawling along. Not sure if it's really slow mo, but the slow mo combined with no sound just makes it seem really, really slow. Not convincing. Maybe it's the marketing company's problem.
Look at Fisker's "leaked" video, it's a much better attempt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPYUd9pLEKo
Lightning can definitely improve the video.