The general consensus since their introduction is that electric vehicles are slow, too slow to really compete with the typical gas-powered vehicles. Well, the days of this opinion are numbered because the 39-year-old land speed record for an electric vehicle has been broken by ex-Minister of State Lord Paul Drayson of Drawson Racing.
Lord Drayson had this to say about the record: “I’m delighted we’ve beaten the record tonight and can show the world EVs can be fast and reliable. Drayson Racing is a laboratory for EV technology, testing it to the most extreme level, as we’ve seen today.”
He was driving the Drayson B12/69 EV LMP racecar, a 2,204 lb vehicle with a power output of 850 hp. The vehicle reached a top speed of 204.185 mph at the RAF Elvington Airfield, located in Yorkshire, England. Measuring just short of two miles, the 1.86 mile track provided just enough space for the feat to be accomplished.
“It is not the outright speed of 204.185mph that is most impressive about this record, but the engineering challenge of accelerating a 1000kg electric vehicle on a short runway over a measured mile. However I’ve got a great team and world-class partners, such as QualcommHalo, Michelin, Multimatic and Cosworth.”
The previous record was set about 40 years ago by Battery Box General Electric in 1974. This record speed was clocked at 175 mph.
(Source: Drayson Racing)
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