A team of students from the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands has broken the electric vehicle acceleration world record in a self-built single-seat open-wheeler.
Dubbed the DUT12, the DUT Racing team’s racing car accelerated from standstill to 100km/h in 2.15 seconds, beating the previous 2.68sec record by more than half a second.
Weighing 145kg and powered by four electric motors, the pint-sized racer has a total output of 99kW.
One of the students behind the car’s build, Gihin Mok, explained that while the car was built for the 2012 Formula Student competition, with motors limited to 84kW, they were capable of being much more powerful.
“Now we used the maximum power,” Mok said.
The team’s lightest member, Marly Kuijpers, who was selected to drive the DUT12 for the acceleration runs at the Valkenburg Naval Air Base said, driving the car feels like a roller coaster.
“That part when you just drop over the edge.”
An updated time of 2.13 seconds was recorded in a follow up run but is yet to be officially announced by the university, either way, the zero-emission racer can hit triple figures faster than a 373kW V8-powered Ariel Atom and 883kW Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport.
Earlier this year Lord Drayson set a new world electric vehicle land speed record, hitting 328.60km/h in his Drayson Racing B12 69/EV electric Le Mans Prototype.
