Ecotricity, the UK’s leading green energy company, launched the first high performance electric sports car designed and built entirely in the UK – the Nemesis Electric Supercar.
As with the Tesla Roadster, the Nemesis electric sports car has Lotus underpinnings. It is based on the Exige, but is 90mm longer to make room for the electric powertrain and allow more cabin space.
The Nemesis’s twin brushless motors can power the electric sports car from 0-100mph in 8.5 seconds, with a top speed of 170mph – faster than a V12 Ferrari.
Uniquely, the Nemesis will be powered entirely by 100% green electricity made by Ecotricity’s UK network of 51 windmills. It runs for between 100-150 miles between charges depending on driving style and can be charged from empty in under 2 hours from its fast charger or 8-9 hours from a regular mains supply, both via hidden retractable cable systems built into the rear of the car.
“We wanted to prove electric cars can be quick to develop, beautiful to look at, cheap to run, and run entirely on wind power”, said Dale Vince. “I was not looking for something ecological, worthy and a bit self-sacrificial, far from it. I wanted to create something exotic and desirable. Something that would turn heads and challenge stereotypes.”
The ‘Nemesis’ development team have between them developed some of the most inspiring sports cars of this century – the McLaren F1, the Lotus Elan, the Corvette 2R1, the Jaguar XJR15 and the De Lorean.
The ‘donor’ car – a secondhand Lotus Exige – was bought on eBay and rebuilt from the ground up to become the Nemesis. The engineers lengthened the chassis by 90mm, lowered and shifted the centre of gravity forward, fitted a cluster of 96 lithium-ion polymer cells, two brushless motors, a completely new transmission, and a lot of electronic wizardry. Several patents to protect the unique design have already been applied for.
The technology developed for the Nemesis will be incorporated into Ecotricty’s next projects, a no-holds-barred 250mph+ wind-powered electric supercar, and an electric tractor to address the next big issue of how we feed ourselves post-oil.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Top speed: Estimated 170mph
Speed 0-100: 8.5 seconds
Power: Two 125KW motors = 330 bhp
Power source: 96 x 100 A/h 4.2 V pouch lithium polymer cobalt cells, charged with Ecotricity
Range: About 100-150 miles depending on driving style
Length of charge: Under 2 hours from empty to full with optional fast charger, 8-9 hours with 13A overnight charger
Charging: 240V 13A household socket or 64A three phase industrial supply
Emissions: 0g CO2 when charged with green electricity from Ecotricity windmills
Battery container: Patent pending double skin carbon fibre/ aluminium honeycomb SESS (Structural Energy Storage System)
Connection: Rear three-pin plug fast charge retractable cable systems incorporated into bodywork
Kerb weight: 1166 kg
Height: 1202mm
Width: 1701mm
Length: 3816mm
Cost: Under £1m
Length of build: 18 months
Transmission: Two-stage belt driven reduction transaxle
Braking: AP Racing 4 pot front calipers with Ferrodo brake pads
Styling Designer: Peter Stevens, designer of the McLaren F1 supercar, Williams Formula 1 car and Prodrive Subaru WRC Impreza[wzslider height=”400″ lightbox=”true”]
