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Author Topic: Alternative energy drag race goes badly for Tesla  (Read 1511 times)

Offline VC

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Alternative energy drag race goes badly for Tesla
« on: May 11, 2010, 03:48:11 pm »
This is Black Current III, a naughty-looking VW Beetle that's officially the fastest electric dragster in Europe. It recorded an 11.24sec ¼-mile run at Santa Pod recently, beating a Tesla Roadster by more than 1.5secs in the process.
Black Current III is the work of brothers Olly and Sam Young and is a 1960s Beetle powered by two forklift truck motors and 60 12-volt batteries. This is good for 1200lb ft of torque, a 0-60 time of around 3.0secs and a terminal velocity at the end of quarter-mile of 114mph.

The project started six years ago when the brothers got hold of an abandoned milk float and mated its motor to an engine-less Beetle.

The next step in the project is to get hold of some hi-tech lithium ion batteries. Considering how the Black Current boys and their forklift-powered car wiped the floor with the cutting-edge Tesla - we'd love to see what they can do with Black Current IV...

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:evilgrin:

Offline cmdrfire

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Re: Alternative energy drag race goes badly for Tesla
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2010, 03:52:32 pm »
The Tesla ain't cutting edge. It's poorly engineered using outdated technology, none of which is novel. The power density of the Sanyo cells used is also comparatively poor, meaning you run out of "oomph" very quickly.


Also, super kudos to the Brothers Young. Lots of people have suggested to me to electrify my Ghia but I'm sticking to the flat four :P

Offline MAT ED30

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Re: Alternative energy drag race goes badly for Tesla
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2010, 05:10:00 pm »
FLAT4  :notworthy:

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