The SRZero electric race car on Friday, set out to do something no other electric car has done: a record-breaking drive around the M25 motorway twice on one charge, covering a total distance of 250 miles (400km).
The M25 it is the main motorway ring road around London, measuring 115 miles (184km) in length.
The Racing Green Endurance (RGE) team, from Imperial College London, drove two laps around the M25 in their specially modified electric Radical SRZERO supercar. This broke the current record held by a team in a Tesla electric car, which did one lap around the M25 on one battery charge.
The M25 journey forms part of a long-term strategy by the Racing Green Endurance (RGE) team from Imperial College to test the performance of SRZERO before they embark on a trip across North and South America in July.
In July the Imperial College team plans to take on the Pan American highway, aiming to cover more than 16,000 miles (26,000 km) through 14 countries from the northern tip of Alaska to the southern tip of South America.
The SRZero started as an SR8, a race-ready machine built by Radical Sportscars. The car’s 2.6-liter V-8 engine and six-speed gearbox made way for two AC synchronous Axial Flux motors that produces a combined 400hp and 479lb-ft of torque, capable of a peak of 715bhp, thanks to a 550v battery pack.
The motors are custom-wound to maximize efficiency at highway cruising speeds. They produce 72 kilowatts (96.5 horsepower) continuous and 144 kilowatts (193 horsepower) peak. The car weighs 1,100 kilograms.
Power comes from a lithium–iron phosphate battery pack using cells from Thundersky. It weighs 550 kilograms and fills the sidepods and the space behind the driver.
SRzero can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 7s, reaching a top speed of 200km/h. It can be fully recharged in for a range of 400+ kilometers.
[source: RGE][wzslider height=”400″ lightbox=”true”]
