Lining up in the grid for the 2011 24hours of Le Mans race could be "the most powerful and cutting edge electric race car ever built".
GreenGT, a new eco-friendly car manufacturer from Switzerland, has unveiled its first design concept – the Twenty-4.
The company commissioned a French designer called Thomas Clavet from the ISD Valencienne design school.
According to Carplatform.com, the Twenty-4 car will be able to go from 0-100km/h (62mph) in under 4 seconds and the maximum speed is estimated to be around 275km/h (171mph). Its two 100kw, water cooled electric engines are powered by Flexcell photovoltaic solar panels and two lithium-ion battery packs delivering 30kW each.
It adds: "Electric engines develop enormous amounts of torque and the GreenGT Twenty-4 will produce 1,475 lb ft of torque up to 100 mph, decreasing to 590 lb ft after that." However, the engineers working on the car say that it could be more powerful and efficient in two to three years time – so hopefully in time for the 2011 race.
Carplatform adds: "The Green Racing GT engineers did not want to face the same transmission problems that Tesla are facing so they decided to patent their own transmission and gearbox."
Christophe Schwartz, the head engineer of the GreenGT, said: "The GreenGT Twenty-4 design study could become our 2011 Le Mans Prototype electric racer or it could even become an electric road going supercar. There is a possibility to do both! The advantage of electric cars is that the only difference between a GreenGT electric racecar and road car is the electronic programming. It would be amazing to create two prototype race cars to compete in the 2011 24hours of Le Mans and 22 road going supercars."
Amazing indeed.
<img src="http://cdni.wired.co.uk/674x281/o_r/Picture-3-674281.jpg" alt="GreenGT"/>
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
