Earlier this week, students from the ETH Zurich and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland smashed the previous world record for acceleration in electric cars. Their ‘grimsel’ electric racing car accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 1.785 seconds in under 30 metres.
The previous record of 2.134 seconds was held by an electric racing car built by Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. That record was set in 2013.
The record-breaking electric racing car was operated by a student team from the Academic Motorsports Club Zurich (AMZ). It was developed and built in less than a year by 30 university students in Zurich and Lucerne.
The carbon fibre construction weighs 168 kg and produces about 200 hp (147 kW). The four-wheel drive is implemented with four specially designed wheel hub motors, which generate a total torque of 1630 Nm at the wheels. Torque distribution is controlled individually for each wheel by means of traction control, which maximizes vehicle acceleration.
The ‘grimsel’ has had numerous successes the Formula Student international competition, which with 500 teams is the world’s biggest annual competition for engineers. The vehicle had three overall wins and an average of 920 points out of a possible 1,000. With its victories in Austria and Spain – where the electric racing car achieved the two highest scores in the European history of Formula Student – the vehicle is clear proof of the potential in electric drive concepts.
Photo credit: AMZ Racing
