Toyota Smashes Nurburgring Electric Car lap record
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jason18,
Sep 8, 2:18am
I remember top gear in the electric cars. They had horrible range. I dont see the point in spending a huge amount of money in a car that you cant just jump in and think hey I might take the family to the snow. Oh hang on I will have to stop somewhere over night to charge her up.
jsbike,
Sep 8, 2:25am
and whenwas the last time you honestly said, right, lets take the family to the snow!
rocker_553,
Sep 8, 3:13am
New Zealand I'm sure would be fine, but imagine hundreds of thousands of electric cars in the USA or China. CO2 levels would sky rocket! As with everything, it's not one single thing that has an impact, it's the combination of changes that would have the desired effect. Build hydro dams, window turbines and such, THEN introduce electric cars, and all would be much better!
audi_s_ate,
Sep 8, 3:26am
Is it just me or did that look horrible to drive, understeering like crazy - probably due the heavy batteries. I would have had more fun in a 1.6 mx5.
jason18,
Sep 8, 3:35am
ok beach
bitsy_boffin,
Sep 8, 3:51am
This is New Zealand, the majority of people are within a few kilometers of a beach.
Natural oil is a finite resource which isfast being depleted, electric cars are about the best shot we got to continue our love of personal transport with any affordability.It's early days yet, but start getting used to it, in 20 to 30 years there probably won't be much choice.
As for power supply problems, naturally this is the case now, but as more people get electric vehicles and need to buy more power, power supply companies will improve infrastructure, that's their business.
As for the old "but it's coming from a coal fired station", yes, but from the point of view of oil depletion, that's not the point, you can't really burn coal in your car and get performance out of it - economy of scale.
Also, modern nuclear reactors operated well are clean, safe, and provide abundant power, and until something better comes along are the best (only) option for generating massive power cheaply and with as minimal harm to the environment as possible.
richardmayes,
Sep 8, 4:00am
I doubt you'd be lapping the Nurburgring in a casual 7min 47.79sec in an MX5!
As I recall, any lap time under about 8 minutes and you are basically driving like someone who doesn't really care if he lives or dies. (But then, it's been a while since I last lapped the Nurburgring because someone at home has misplaced my Gran Turismo 5 disc.)
elect70,
Sep 8, 4:03am
^^ whats the beach got to do with it, could electric carlaunch my30 foot boat(if i had 1 ) !
jason18,
Sep 8, 4:07am
Natural oil is a finite resource which is fast being depleted, electric cars are about the best shot we got to continue our love of personal transport with any affordability. It's early days yet, but start getting used to it, in 20 to 30 years there probably won't be much choice.
Heard that since the 70s
morrisman1,
Sep 8, 5:05am
*cough* japan.
I would say that nuclear reactors are far from safe because when they do go it is a very very serious issue and from what japan has shown us, even world superpowers and the leaders in technology cannot make them foolproof
bitsy_boffin,
Sep 8, 5:23am
Do you disagree that natural oil is a finite resource!
Perhaps you know some massive pipe pumping oil back into the earth somewhere that nobody else does!If so, please do tell, that would be pretty cool.
bitsy_boffin,
Sep 8, 5:25am
Fukushima was an old reactor.
But, if you have better ideas for the massive energy demands that our society has, we are all ears.
I disagree. Oil is not finite, I agree there will come a time where its not economicly viable to produce oil, but oil as such will never run out. All we are doing at the moment is using oil faster than it's being produced from geochemical processes on ancient fossilized organic materials.
drsr,
Sep 8, 6:41am
It depends on the local power generation mix; US power is 25% nuclear and one study shows that in about 10 out of 13 US regions plugin hybrids and full electrics produce less CO2 per mile than oil-burning cars. The break-even point seems to be 50% of power generation coming from coal. Even with natural gas power generation CO2 emissions are lower for electric vehicles. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm!id=interactive-plug-in-hybrids
drsr,
Sep 8, 6:43am
That's what plugin hybrids are for, 70km or so all-electric range for commuting but can still be powered by petrol for longer journeys.
richynuts,
Sep 8, 6:51am
still be quicker than an aussie v8 supercar, they are as slow as!
foxdonut,
Sep 8, 7:03am
Well.
If a 2009 Niissan GTR on (supposed) legal tread can run a 7.35~ (10 seconds faster than the Toyota)
And a GT3 spec Nissan GTR runs a slower time around bathurst than a 2010 spec V8 SuperCar (evidenced in the 2011 12 hour GT3 race held recently)
It stands to reason that a V8 SuperCar is probably going to be faster around Nurburgring.
richynuts,
Sep 8, 8:08am
I use to rate the v8's but after seeing them at surfers paradisea few years ago with the champcars (2.5 litre turbo cosworth) the v8's were 20 seconds a lap slower and they really did look slow.The Toyota electric car seemed to be scrubbing off alot of speed going into the turns so with a few more laps I am sure it will better that time and watching the video it looked as though it was losing top end power in the final straights.
foxdonut,
Sep 8, 8:14am
Who would have thought that mid engine open wheelers with higher power to weight (and less weight) ratings would be faster around a course than a saloon car.
richynuts,
Sep 8, 8:16am
true but 20 seconds c'mon
richardmayes,
Sep 8, 9:37am
Japanese nuclear power industry runs imported General Electric nuclear reactors from the USA.
Kinda like the Australian motor industry runs imported General Motors gear, and look what they get: Holdens.
So is it really any wonder the whole thing got Fukushima'ed up!
jmma,
Oct 15, 7:54am
zak410 wrote: Luckily the Nürburgring is not a.short circuit![/quote
Gets my vote for best one yet (o:
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