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505 views May 27, 2010

Radical SR8LM

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Most electric cars are decent for in-town errands, or even short commutes. Go beyond anything past more than 100 miles, and you will either have to tow the EV back home, or wait almost a day to recharge the batteries. Any type of long-distance travel doesn’t seem that feasible.

Wired is reporting that a group of Imperial College London students, called “Racing Green Endurance,” are raising skeptics’ eyebrows. Their plan is to drive a Radical SR8 converted to electrical power down the Trans-American Highway. The highway goes from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in at the tip of South America and has a distance of roughly 15,000 miles.

The Radical SR8, a popular track-car in Britain, comes with a 2.6 V-8 engine, made of two Suzuki Hayabusa 1.3L inline-fours, and a six-speed sequential gearbox. Their car is being called the SRZero, and replaces this drive train for two electric motors that is tuned for efficiency at highway speed, and produces a peak equivalent of 193 hp. Thanks to the 2,420 pound weight combined with the motor has a range of 243 miles.

They have a daunting task ahead of them, according to Automobile Magazine. Most of the highway is more suited for a 4x4 than an extremely low, windshield-less track-day special. Another issue that might arise is charging the car, as different countries have different electrical standards, or even trying to find an outlet to use.

[Source: Wired, Automobile]