Lightning Car Company plans three more electric cars
Lightning Car Company GT - Click above for high-res image gallery
Back in February, the UK-based Lightning Car Company announced that it still intends to begin building and selling its Lightning GT by 2010. The £120,000 electric sportscar will be powered by one 120kW electric motor per wheel – assuming the fledgling automaker is still able to use hub motors from bankrupt PML Flightlink – that will get their electrons from 36kW of Altairnano NanoSafe lithium titanite batteries. According to its maker, the car should be able to accelerate its carbon fiber and Kevlar self to 60 mph in just four seconds and sport a range of up to 180 miles.
Despite the fact that the company has yet to ship its first automobile, Lightning Car Company chairman Ian Sanderson has said the company intends to also offer "a high-end chauffeur-driven car with electric power." Also on the menu will be an SUV and a smaller sportscar, all powered by variations of the GT's electric drivetrain. Ambitious, no?
Gallery: Lightning Car Company GT
[Source: Autocar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CaramelZappa 10:22AM (7/03/2009)
If I recall correctly the problem with PML is that when the car is off it has no brakes, the wheels spin freely. When it's on it has regen braking, but in all the pictures off the PML mini they had blocks under the wheels to keep it from rolling away.
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Turbofrog 10:46AM (7/03/2009)
That's 36 kWh, right? Those probably aren't cheap. Haven't heard much from Altairnano of late...
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Chris M 2:26AM (7/04/2009)
I had the same thought. 36 kilowatts isn't all that much power, about 48 hp, and the acceleration figures were much greater than that.
Altairnano was planning on making a 35 Kwh battery pack, perhaps they've improved it a bit.
kert 10:49AM (7/03/2009)
>>If I recall correctly the problem with PML is that when the car is off it has no brakes, the wheels spin freely.
Er, that should be easy to fix. Try taking any electric motor, short its wires and then turn it.
Im sure they can come up with a circuit that shorts the motor coils for a "handbrake" function.
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Max 4:17PM (7/03/2009)
Great news!
But it would be nice if they actually made one working car, otherwise it will be hard to believe.
Gorgeous car though, I'm sure there are many technical hurdles left unsolved.......wheel motors have lots of problems, lots.
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Anthony 4:30PM (7/03/2009)
Woah for a second when I first saw the pic it looked like a ferrari...
Just sayin'
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Snoopy 8:19PM (7/03/2009)
A nearly $200,000 U.S. electric sports car. Wow. Well, it would be $188,766 after the $7,500 rebate, but still. I would certainly hope it's worth that price.
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Chris M 2:34AM (7/04/2009)
Considering that the acceleration isn't much better than the Tesla Roadster, but the range is much less and the price is considerably higher, I think they've got a serious problem in marketing. It doesn't help Lightning that Tesla is already in production.
Part of their problem is the use of the deluxe AltairNano batteries, which have excellent power and cycle life and very good heat resistance, but aren't the best for energy density, and have a very high cost. Tesla uses a battery that isn't as good with cycle life or heat resistance, but have much better energy density and a considerably lower cost. I think Tesla made the better choice.
Snoopy 10:29PM (7/04/2009)
Quite the point. The luxury component better be quite luxurious then. :p