The battery-switchable all-electric Holden Commodore developed by EV Engineering has unofficially broken the distance record set by a production electric car, achieving 1886 kilometers (1,172 miles) of driving over a 24-hour period.
A team of 16 engineers and technicians from EV Engineering and its member companies began the attempt at 1pm on Saturday 21 July, supported by a team in the workshop operating the semi-automated switch station that switches a depleted battery for a fully-charged one.
Each team member drove one loop of 122 kilometers (75.8) on public roads between Port Melbourne and Geelong, with the distance record beaten at 10.08am on Sunday 22 July.
At the end of each 122 km loop, the car had between 20 and 25% charge left in the battery, indicating that more than 150 km (93 miles) would have been achievable. The depleted battery was switched in the EV Engineering workshop at the end of each lap, a total of 15 times.
The mechanism used to switch the battery is a scaled-down version of the Battery Switch Stations that will be rolled out in Australia by Better Place.
The electric motor produces 145kW of power, 45kW less than the least powerful 3.0-liter V6 engine in the Commodore line-up – and 400Nm of torque.
This results in a 0-100km/h (0-62 mph) time of 8.5 seconds, two-tenths faster than the gasoline version despite a 140kg weight increase.
The 30kWh battery provides an official driving range of 160km (99.4 miles) and engineers said that under real-world tests usage ranged between 130km (80.8 miles) and 157km (97.5 miles).
The Society of Automotive Engineers Australasia (SAE) observed the trial across its entire 24- hour duration, and is satisfied that:
– The event was completed on public roads and in compliance with local road laws
– The event was completed within one continuous 24-hour period, from 1:00pm on the 21st of July 2012 until 1:00pm on the 22nd of July 2012
– The same EV Engineering electric Commodore was used across the entire 24 hour event
– The EV Engineering electric Commodore was propelled by electric power for the entire 24 hour event, and no other fuel or energy sources were used to propel the vehicle at any stage
– The measuring equipment used to record time and distance travelled was not tampered with
– The GPS unit mounted in the test vehicle recorded a total distance travelled of 1886km across the 24-hour period
In June, a Renault ZOE covered 1618km (1005.38 miles) in 24 hours, but unlike the Commodore’s unofficial mark, this included stopping to charge the ZOE, and was set on a closed test track.
[source: Green Car Congress]
