Gordon Murray releases more details, specs on T.27 City Car EV
Gordon Murray, the man responsible for the giving us the McLaren F1, has teamed up with Zytek Automotive to have four prototypes of an all-electric three-seater city car on the roads by February 2011.
“The Technology Strategy Board have been incredibly supportive of the T.27 program and together we are working to keep this in the United Kingdom,” said Gordon Murray, CEO of Gordon Murray Design. “It is a great opportunity to work with Zytek Automotive and our other partners on this very exciting program. We always strive to lead the way in automotive design and our current goal is to maximize efficiency of electric vehicles.”
The two companies say that the T.27 City Car will have a low curb weight of around 1,500 pounds, including the 33-hp electric-motor, single-speed gearbox and the weight of the 12kWh lithium-ion battery. The system will allow the T.27 City Car to go from 0-62 mph in less than 15 seconds with a top speed of 66 mph. On a full charge, the T.27 should provide anywhere from 80 to 100 miles.
Follow the jump for the press release for more details
Press Release:
T.27 THE WORLD’S MOST EFFICIENT ELECTRIC VEHICLE
Gordon Murray Design announced the Specification and Performance Targets for the T.27 City Car, a pure electric drive vehicle designed to fully optimise packaging, weight and performance. The announcement marks an exciting leap forward in efficiency for electric vehicles and working closely with their powertrain partner, Zytek Automotive, a brand new, innovative, lightweight and fully integrated electric motor, control system and battery will be designed to ensure that maximum efficiency is achieved.
Projected emissions, using a UK energy mix, are 48g/km CO2 for the combined cycle and 28g/km CO2 for the urban cycle alone, with zero emissions at the point of use. Full lifecycle CO2 damage will be 42% less than the average UK car.
Vehicle Specification
eMotor: 25kW Height: 1.60m
Battery Type: Li-ion Weight: 680Kg (incl. battery)
Battery Spec. 12kWh Wheel Base: 1.78m
Length: 2.50m Turning Circle: 6.0m
Width: 1.30m
Performance Targets
Top Speed: 105kph
0-100kph: Less than 15 seconds
Range: 80 ““ 100 miles
The T.27 vehicle concept closely follows the layout and geometry of Gordon Murray Design’s innovative T.25 city car, an MPV with 6 possible internal layouts.
The efficiency in cost, weight and performance comes in part from the ‘clean sheet of paper’ approach, part from the full integration of the powertrain and also from the low energy manufacturing system developed by Gordon Murray Design called iStream®.
iStream® massively reduces the capital investment required to produce the vehicle and also the energy required for manufacture plus the flexibility of the iStream® process would also allow the petrol powered T.25 and the T.27 to be manufactured at the same plant.
The 16 month programme started in November 2009 with a running prototype scheduled for completion in April 2011 and is supported with a 50% investment from the Technology Strategy Board. The next phase in the programme will include a push to secure partners and funding for UK manufacture. A UK partner or consortium to produce the city cars in the UK would keep the technology at home and could create 6,000 jobs.
