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How Fast Is Fast Enough?
Electric supercars set new speed recordsby Larry Carley copyright 2024 AA1Car.com
Back in 2018, a Japanese company called Aspark created a purpose-built electric supercar called the OWL in hopes of setting a new record for being the fastest EV to go from 0-to-60 mph. The car was equipped with two 40 kW electric motors each producing nearly 430 horsepower and 563 lb.ft. of torque and a 40 kWh battery. The carbon fiber car weighed only 1874 lbs. and was built low and sleek to minimize aerodynamic drag. The result? A 0-to-60 mph sprint in only 1.9 seconds!
This record was later broken on April 30, 2023 by another EV supercar, the Rimac Nevera, which went from 0-to-60 mph in 1.74 seconds!.
Recently (June 6, 2024), Aspark set another record with their reworked update of their OWL supercar. Dubbed the SP600, the latest version of the OWL has been refitted with four 500 horsepower electric motors and a larger 64 kWh battery. This time the goal was to become the fastest EV in the world. The car was taken to the Automotive Testing Papenburg facility in Germany were it succeeded in breaking the world EV speed record previously held by the Rimac Nevera (256 mph set back on November 15, 2023).
For 2024, the latest generation Formula E race cars are record setters, too, rocketing from 0-to-60 mph in 1.8 seconds, which is 30 percent faster than internal combustion powered Formula One race cars. Top speed was 170 mph, but is now increased to 200 mph (322 km/h).
GEN3 Formula E motors are limited to 300 kW of power (402 horsepower) for racing, but are allowed to put out 350 kW for qualifying (470 hp).
The GEN3 batteries have been reduced in capacity to 38.5 kWh (formerly 53 kWh), but use more regenerative braking (up to 600 kWh) to extend battery range. The overall weight limit for these race cars is 840 kg (1852 lbs.) with driver, or 760 kg w/o the driver.
Keep in mind that all of these these speed records were set without the vehicles emitting a single gram of hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide or nitrous oxide.
Of course, the original power source for charging the batteries in these record-setting vehicles may have been coal, natural gas or wind or solar.
The point here is that electric powertrains are capable of achieving the kind of speed and acceleration performance the rivals even the best high performance internal combustion engines (with the possible exceptions of NHRA Top Fuel Dragsters or Funny Cars which can produce upwards of 11,000 horsepower burning fuel mixtures of 90 percent nitro methane and 10 percent methanol alcohol at hit speeds of over 340 mph in a quarter mile!).
The closest internal combustion powered supercar competitor with the electric Aspark OWL and Rimac Nevera is currently the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport with its specially modified quad turbo 8.0 liter W16 engine producing over 1800 horsepower. The Bugatti became the first “production” supercar to crack the 300 mph barrier back in September 2019.
The never ending quest for faster acceleration and high top speeds will likely continue to set new world records, but most of these records will now be set with next generation electric supercars that cost upwards of 3 million dollars or more.
So how fast is fast enough? Just a little bit faster…...
