RUF's electric Porsche...

[id10t]

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/10/10/rufs-electric-porsche-breaks-cover/

Wow.

[turbocarrera]

I wish I had some kids I could swap for that thing.

[VincentVega]

200 horsepower along with an impressive 480 lb.-ft. of torque, the eRUF Model A can reportedly hit 60 miles per hour in under seven seconds and can reach a top speed of 160. Power comes from a lithium iron phosphate battery pack, which produces 317-volts and 480-amps and is made up from 96 individual cells. A full charge takes a rather long 10-hours, and regenerative braking is included in the package allowing for a range of up to 180 miles.

Interesting, but I expected better performance from Ruf. Maybe cars like this will help show people electric cars are viable.

[M.D. Holloway]

Better? Thats pretty good for wind-up.

[9dreizig]

Very cool!!

[Heel n Toe]

I wonder what the 0-100 time is.

I know it's not a direct comparison, but having raced 1/12th scale R/C cars, I know that electric motors spool up pretty quick and act somewhat like a turbocharged rotary and accelerates like a jet fighter being slung off a carrier... this car could be quite a sleeper, but I know I would probably prefer to hear that flat six howl.

I also wonder if there's any way to use the motor for deceleration, or if it's all on the brakes.

Wow... I never knew this about efficiency (from that write-up):

A short discourse regarding efficiency might be helpful at this point: a highly-developed,
modern petrol engine uses around 75 percent of the energy in its tank to heat the engine
coolant and exhaust gas and only 25 to 30 per cent for actual propulsion.

A diesel manages to convert a respectable 35 to 40 percent of its fuel energy into motion.

The permanent magnet electric motor, on the other hand, is a model of high efficiency:
it offers over 80 percent efficiency over the majority of its power range, extending
90 percent in the upper end of its power range.

[M.D. Holloway]

wonder what a conversion kit would go for?

[id10t]

LubeMaster77 - Make magazine had an article about a guy that converted a VW Bug to electric. Ended up with about 60hp, and cost $30k including the car. Range was 70 miles or so. Tempting for my 356, if I had the money. There's also a post on 356registry.com/forum about a guy that has an electric 912...

[widgeon13]

Ruf can do it but GM and Ford can't. I think there is a pretty significant message there.

They just don't want to be troubled with a clean environment, changing their ways and doing something that could cost some money for them.

[Gogar]

I think it's fantastic, but it likely suffers the same problems as every EV concept at this point.

1. I can't seem to find a MSRP in that article
2. How long do the batteries last, and how much for new ones?

[Aerkuld]

Originally Posted by Heel n Toe

...I also wonder if there's any way to use the motor for deceleration, or if it's all on the brakes...

Yep, thats what the regenerative braking is.

I work for a company that does that with our latest electric vehicle, not quite on such a grand scale though. It uses an AC electric motor and all the braking (except emergency braking) is done by running the motor in regenerative mode. The motor then works like a generator and puts the energy it develops back into the battery pack. It manages to put back something in excess of 30% of all the energy it consumes.

[tcar]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

Ruf can do it but GM and Ford can't. I think there is a pretty significant message there.

They just don't want to be troubled with a clean environment, changing their ways and doing something that could cost some money for them.

That is just not correct.

I'm no fan of GM, but ...

RUF has only built a few cars.

GM had 2000 of them on the road 10 years ago, the EV1;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1

GM will have another electric car in production (mass production) next year, the Volt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Volt

Ford has had hybrids on the road for years.

Also, no one, even RUF, does it for altruistic reasons, they do it because there's a chance they can make a profit directly (sales) or indirectly (PR reasons).

[id10t]

"RUF has only built a few cars."

Think you could say that and not even be talking about the 'letric ones...

[rammstein]

I'm all for electric cars if they are there by market desire, and not by government mandate. There's already one out there to lust after- the Tesla. The problem with the Tesla is, it costs $100k. An exige is $65k I think. Therefore, its not there. Yet.

When the electric version is the same price as the gas models, watch out. Those will be sellers. Until then, its a novelty.

[VincentVega]

Better? Thats pretty good for wind-up.

The Chevy Volt is supposed to do 0-60 in 8.5. I'm not complaining, I think it's cool, just not quite what I expect from Ruf.

[javadog]

And it only weighs 4200 pounds..... (the Ruf, not the Chevy.)

Pass.

JR