The “grimsel” electric race car broke the world record for acceleration by an electric car yesterday at the Dübendorf air base near Zurich.
The vehicle accelerated from 0 to 62 mph (100 km/h) in 1.513 seconds over a distance of less than 100 feet. The previous world record, set by a team at the University of Stuttgart, stood at 1.779 seconds.
A team of students at ETH Zurich and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts built the Formula Student electric car in less than a year. It sets new standards in lightweight construction and electric drive technology. Thanks to the use of carbon-fiber materials, grimsel weighs just 370 pounds (168 kilograms).
The four-wheel drive electric racing car has four specially developed wheel hub motors that are capable of generating 200 horsepower. A sophisticated traction control system regulates the performance of each wheel individually, allowing the car’s acceleration increase even further.
No large-scale production car—even one with a combustion engine—can reach an acceleration comparable to the grimsel.
See tiny stunt cars test the limits of self-driving vehicles
Source: ETH Zurich
