Could the Ginetta G50 EV be the awesomest electric sportscar yet?
by Domenick Yoney on Dec 26th 2008 at 1:39PM 
It appears that Ginetta Cars, a storied British company that's been building racing and road cars since 1958, may be heating up the electric sports car market with a gas-free version of their latest automotive masterpiece, the G50. Information about the car is scant. Their website states only that it is all-electric, can reach 120 mph and will have a range up to 250 miles. No acceleration times are given but it will hopefully be at least as quick as it's Ford-powered sister (which was just given the top spot in Autosport Magazine's "Top 10 Cars of the year") which is said to do 0 to 60 mph in 4 seconds.
In case you are skeptically thinking, "Perhaps they are just fobbing off a pretty picture and saying it's electric," please consider that, not only is there confirmation of the G50 EV driving on public roads by the company that integrated the electric drivetrain, RaceTech Harnessing, but it has also been photographed hood up with its controller box exposed. We've put in a request for more info and we'll let you know what we learn about this low carbon Lightning GT competitor as soon as it becomes available.
[Source: Ginetta via g-wiz owner's club forum]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brent 9:54PM (12/26/2008)
Electric cars should never be made to excede 100mph, the concept is for conservation not the d*** extention some monkeys feel they need.
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Chris M 11:24PM (12/26/2008)
Just because it can go that fast doesn't mean it will ever be driven that fast. After all, most gassers can achieve that speed, but rarely if ever are they driven that fast. The aerodynamic drag at such speeds would drastically reduce the driving range of any car.
It's just nice to know you could if you ever had to.
comatus 9:33PM (1/02/2009)
Way to go, Brent. You're doing a wonderful job selling the new technology, making new friends, and influencing people! But your spelling needs work.
And your soul died.
Brent 10:50AM (1/05/2009)
Coma, 1 it's a chat board for comments not a college course. 2 I never had a soul because I'm the same decaying matter as everyone else and I don't believe in magic and fairytales. 3 I'm not trying to sell these overpriced midlife-crisis type wastes of energy.
And your soul never was.
Brian 8:21PM (11/18/2009)
No car needs to exceed 75 mph or accelerate faster than 8 seconds to 60, yet the sports car market is doing quite fine. Electric cars would not win over the general public if they maintained the stigma of slow, nerdy econoboxes meant only to almost match normal cars' range at much slower speeds. People like fast cars, that's a fact. People don't want to pay $40k for a car that looks ugly, is slow, has a limited range (
Eletruk 12:33AM (12/27/2008)
Tesla is supposed to be selling their drive systems, perhaps this is one of the companies they are selling them to. The specs sound awefully familiar, range and top speed is the same as the Tesla Roadster. So a car builder like Ginetta simply replaces the drive train with a Tesla system, and viola, you have high end EV sportster.
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roksob 12:08AM (1/05/2009)
0-60 in 4 secs? That's only marginally better than a Subaru WRX-STI ... which only costs 30 grand. You could buy a hell of a lot of gas for that extra $80k.
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Mark 2:10AM (1/06/2009)
Guys... lets get one thing straight... the time of the EV has not YET come, so don't bother even trying to do economic figures, it'll never pan out...
But the point is, this is the direction of the future.... Only rich people with an eco-centric mindset will even consider purchasing one of these technology demonstrators, but at least it gets the ball rolling and allows the technology to mature.
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Herman Wiegman 8:28PM (1/06/2009)
Actually... the company may not have a soul... just a will to survive in Europe, where all car manufactures (by brand) need to pass CO2 emissions requirements. Many of the exotics are struggling to get even close to the required CO2 levels (grams/km) so a few EV's sales can help them achieve their brand emission level targets.
Many exotics (like Ferrari) are trying to build-in Hybrid Start/Stop technology and some brake regeneration (with F1 flywheel, or hybrid electric technology) to get to the target emissions levels.
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