Electric Lightning sports car charges as fast you can fill a petrol tank

Posted by T3 Online on Wed 23 Jul 2008

But you won't be doing it from your garage, unfortunately

The British International Motor Show opens up to the eager public today and one of the highlights from yesterday's press event is the Electric Lightning sports car. Unlike a lot of electric cars, the Lightning Car Company's motor isn't staggeringly hideous or slower than an overweight tortoise. It's a sleek, swift sports machine, running on 30 onboard rechargeable batteries, and boasting 700+ bhp and a 0-60 of 4 seconds.

But just because it's fast and looks superb isn't the only reason to keep an eye out for this set of wheels. The Electric Lightning has an ace up its sleeve that gives it an edge over almost all other electric cars: fast-charge technology.

Take the Th!nk City that we covered yesterday, for example. It takes up to 14 hours to recharge its battery pack and the range is less than 150 miles. Or the Tesla Roadster, a similarly sporty electric car. Its batteries take "over night" to charge and then you get 220 miles from them. Electric Lightning drivers using a fast-charge outlet could recharge theirs in under ten minutes and still enjoy a 200 mile range.

This has been achieved by the Lightning Car Company's decision to employ lithium-titanate battery technology instead of traditional Li-ion found in most other electric cars, not to mention mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, and so on.

But there's a catch (of course). Your home wiring just doesn't have the strength to carry the kind of juice necessary to fast-charge a Lightning car. Well, not without all the light bulbs exploding and the fridge running away. Therefore, the manufacturer needs to find some outlets to provide the service, and it's got a couple of ideas in mind. "I'd like to be talking to Tesco about it," says Chris Dell, MD of Lightning Car Co. "You're never more than 15 minutes from a Tesco in this country, and they've all got industrial power and forecourts."

No negotiations are currently underway however, and I could see how a petrol station might not be desperately keen on providing high-powered electric services right alongside pumps full of highly flammable liquids. Not when they already go mental when someone answers a mobile on the forecourt.

Fortunately, it doesn't have to be a petrol station forecourt - anywhere with three-phase industrial power can be made to support the system. For the rest of the time, Lightning car owners can use ordinary mains and overnight charging to build up the juice.

Pre-orders of the Electric Lightning have started now and deliveries are expected to begin in 2009.

The Lightning Car Company (via The Register)