Lola
Drayson B12/69EV
Drayson
Racing Technologies and the Lola Cars group have just revealed what is intended
to be the fastest electric-powered racing car in the world. The Lola-Drayson
B12/69EV features Drayson's brand new 4X2-640 electric drivetrain, inductive
charging, composite battery power, moveable aerodynamics and electrical
regenerative damping. Its four electric motors are said to deliver a whopping
850 horsepower and a top speed of around 200 mph.
In
2007, Lord Paul Drayson left the UK government and set up a business with his
wife Elspeth, aimed at pioneering green technology in the harsh environment of
motorsport. Drayson Racing Technologies subsequently developed a GT2 Aston
Martin that ran on second generation bio-ethanol and was raced in the American
Le Mans Series and the 2009 Le Mans 24-hour race. A spell as the UK
government's Minister for Science and Innovation gave Lord Drayson access to
data underlining the scale of the challenge presented by climate change, which
served to reinforce his resolve.
The
company went on to develop a unique Le Mans Prototype (LMP) racing car with a
flex-fuel Judd V10 engine which allowed the car to run on both second
generation E85 bio-ethanol fuel and conventional petrol race fuel. At the Road
America ALMS race in August 2010, the Lola B10/60 LMP car achieved an overall
win.
Now
the Drayson Racing Technologies and Lola Cars partnership has set its sights on
producing the fastest electric-powered racecar to lap a circuit. Built around
the current Lola LMP1 chassis, the Lola-Drayson B12/69EV was unveiled earlier
this month at the UK's 2012 Low Carbon Racing Conference at the National
Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.
The
four axial flux Oxford YASA motors generate over 850 peak horse power to the
rear wheels, taking the Lola-Drayson B12/69EV up to a top speed of 320 km/h
(just shy of 200 mph) - it is said to be capable of producing more power than a
petrol equivalent vehicle. Off the starting line, the electric racer is claimed
to zoom from zero to 60 mph (96.56 km/h) in 3 seconds, or zero to 100 mph
(160.93 km/h) in 5.1 seconds.
Drayson
says that the partnership's "main aim is to prove that an electric powered
LMP car can lap as fast, if not faster than a conventionally powered car and to
show how exciting an 850 horsepower, 200 mph plus electric car is on
track."
The
car's design is centered around optimizing qualifying performance in short
attack runs. The new generation Lithium Nanophosphate battery cells made exclusively
by A123 Systems, and used for the first time in the Lola-Drayson B12/69EV, will
only last for around 15 minutes in race mode - but at those speeds, what a 15
minutes that will be!
The
batteries are recharged using a Qualcomm HaloIPT wireless induction system,
where coils positioned in the floor of the vehicle start juicing the packs when
placed over recharging pads in the pit garage. Safety concerns have been
central to the design process, with the team ensuring that the batteries
discharge on impact and that fire risks are eliminated.
The
batteries and the electric motors are situated behind the driver, along with
power inverters and a cooling system. The new electric racing car also has a
single reduction gear linking the drive from the electric motors to the
driveshafts, plus it incorporates Rhinehart inverters, new active aerodynamic
features developed by Lola in conjunction with BAE Systems (the latter also
responsible for developing the structural composite battery technology), and
new recycled carbon fiber technology developed in house by Lola. The electronic
control systems come courtesy of Cosworth, and there are Multimatic electrical
regenerative dampers and Warwick Manufacturing Group recyclable body panels.