Electric Supercar, the Italdesign Quaranta

Motor Trend recently had an exclusive test drive of an outrageous new electric car, the Italdesign Quaranta.



This futuristic, fighter jet canopied car features a central driver's seating position and was designed by the same man who brought us the Lamborghini Gallardo. Instead of a roaring V-10, the Quaranta makes a lot of noise by making none at all.



The Quaranta is indeed a mid engine car, one sporting all wheel drive. It is entirely overwhelming in design quality, concept, and execution. And unlike most show ponies, this one is built to be driven as it most certainly was less than 60 days after making it's show circuit debut.



Italdesign and Toyota have a great relationship, so it's no surprise that the powertrain is sourced from the Lexus RX 400h. Toyota provided the 3.3-liter DOHC V-6 engine, electric-motor assist hardware, continuously variable transmission, and all-wheel-drive system, but the rest of the car has all been hand crafted by Italdesign.



The 3100 pound green muscle machine is rated at 268 total horsepower. Battery charging is assisted by Toyota's regenerative braking system and also by solar panels affixed to the car's front and rear horizontal surfaces. As functional and styling elements, the panels generate an additional 250 watts of free power, so long as the sun is shining.



The twin fuel tanks hold a total of about 16 gallons of gas and offer a claimed range of over 600 miles. That equates to around 37.5 mpg. 0-60 comes in around 5.6 seconds or so. This is no Lambo beater, but it does get roughly 3.5 times the gas mileage, after all.

google_ad_client = "pub-5078511126323392";

/* 250x250, created 7/27/08 */

google_ad_slot = "0593572033";

google_ad_width = 250;

google_ad_height = 250;

//-->

700 Horsepower Electric Supercar

A new British sports car was unveiled at the British Motor Show, and it wasn't a new Aston Martin either. The Lightning GT, produced by the appropriately named Lightning Car Company, packs some serious juice with a claimed 700hp. A classic GT design with a long hood, low roofline, and massive wheels comes with a major surprise.

The blue discs that you see aren't exactly traditional brakes. The Lightning GT uses four hub-mounted electric motors, providing direct drive to the wheels. Combined with just 30 battery packs, these deliver the electric equivalent of "700 horsepower" and each motor can be individually controlled. All this means that the car is able to modify the speed of the wheels based on steering angle and velocity, and a number of other factors that the design team wants to dial in. This can add up to exceptional handling, provided all of the computers can talk to each other.

This all sounds lovely, of course. But there are some doubts as to whether it can actually happen. The Lightning packs only 30 batteries (which isn't nearly as many as other electric cars) which are supposed to give the car a 186 mile range on a 10 minute charge. The Lightning Car Company does have video of the car moving on it's own accord, but a full demonstration is yet to be seen.

The company says that deliveries could start in 2010 but that it requires significant investment to make that happen.

For those of you that fear missing the intoxicating sound of a real engine with the purchase of a car like this, it does include a sound module to replicate the noise of everything from a smooth V6 to a throaty V12. Just imagine the fun that can be had with that...