Eliica

Yesterday I had the opportunity to hear the delightful Professor Hiroshi Shimizu of Keio University talk about his invention, Eliica, the fastest electric car in the world. Apparently, historically, complaints regarding poor performance have plagued the electric vehicle concept. He’s managed to build an eight wheel, eight battery, 800hp futuristic ride that can outperform a Porshe 911 turbo in an acceleration contest. It took Eliica 7.04 seconds to reach 160.km/hr. The Porshe, driven by a professional race car driver, took 9.20 seconds to reach the same speed. The Eliica is capable of a maximum speed of 370 km/hr. The point he stressed was in the area of design. Currently, the auto industry uses the template of today’s vehicles and outfits them with an electrical system. He was adamant that to achieve an acceptable level of performance and space to appeal to consumers, the auto industry needs to work design from the ground up, rather than rig an internal combustion vehicle. The name of his talk was titled "The Engineer’s Answer to Global Warming". Just last month, a new company called SIM Drive was established to aid the auto industry in their quest for environmentally friendly vehicle technology. Mr. Shimizu is the President of this company.