Wrightspeed X1
July 9th, 2008 by john
Many people have heard of the Tesla electric roadster, but there’s another fast electric car around the San Francisco bay area too: the Wrightspeed X1.
Unlike the Tesla, the X1 is still a one-of-a-kind proof of concept vehicle that is not available for purchase. Whereas the Tesla gets its chassis design, and some other components, from Lotus, the X1 gets its chassis from another British car company: Ariel. Based on the Ariel Atom design, the look of the X1 is a little different too, bearing more of a resemblance to track racing cars or some of the classic British kit car designs like the Caterham 7.
Both cars use powertrain technology from AC Propulsion, although Tesla licensed the technology and built their own solution incorporating it whereas the X1 uses a solution directly from AC Propulsion. (AC Propulsion had its own concept electric vehicle too, first created over 10 years ago, the tZero).
So, there are a number of pure electric cars out there that are more fun than a golf cart, but just how much fun? Well, the X1 numbers look like this:
- 0-30 mph: 1.35 sec
- 0-60 mph: 3.07 sec in 117 ft
- 0-100 mph: 6.87 sec
- 0-100-0 mph 11.2 sec
- Range: over 100 miles
The Tesla claims a 0-60 mph time of under 4 seconds, top speed of 125 mph and a range of about 220 miles. Oh, and both have equivalent mpg numbers that would put even a Prius to shame: 170 mpge for the X1 and over 250 mpge for the Tesla!
Tags: ac propulsion, ariel, electric car, electric vehicle, ev, lotus, performance car, tesla, tzero, wrightspeed, x1
July 15th, 2008 at 3:24 am
Interesting, I didn’t realise it wasn’t Atom themselves who were running the electric Atom seen on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qDZOBQs60w) and the Internet. There may be hope for ‘performance’ electric vehicles yet…
July 16th, 2008 at 11:57 am
[...] of course, cars like the Tesla roadster and the Wrightspeed X1 clearly demonstrate that electric power is no impediment to performance and handling. The problem [...]
June 19th, 2009 at 7:56 am
[...] Wrightspeed X1 [...]