Electric Car Goes for Land Speed Record

21 April 2005

A high-speed electrical car, powered by ABB motors and drives, will attempt to break the land speed record for an electrical vehicle on May 5 in Nevada.

The 32-foot (10 meter) long, “e=motion” car will try to beat the current official FIA (Fédération Internationale d’Automobile) electric land speed record of 245 mph (394 kph) and become the first-ever electrically powered vehicle to break the 300 mph (483 kph) barrier.

The e=motion has already reached 146 mph (237 kph) in just 1,000 yards (914 meters) in tests in the UK, and unofficially broke the 139 mph UK record for an electric vehicle.

Two 50 horsepower AC motors produce a combined output of more than 500 hp (hp). ABB’s system uses a regenerative standard inverter from its ACS800 motor drives line to convert the 600V DC (direct current) output from the car’s four packs of 52 lead-acid batteries into AC (alternating current) power for the two motors.

The ABB motor/drive system uses the company’s Direct Torque Control drive technology.

Other challengers to the record commonly use gear-driven systems in their cars to achieve the fastest possible acceleration, whereas the technology we’ve supplied steadily controls torque across the whole speed range. Although a geared vehicle can achieve 100 mph in a few seconds, its rate of acceleration falls away much more quickly compared to our system; this one will continue to accelerate even past the 300 mph mark, provided sufficient battery power is available.

—Frank Griffith, ABB power system team member

To prevent overheating during the record attempt, each motor has been adapted to include a forced-ventilation system that is comprised of a series of 24-volt DC fans, to help keep the motors below their maximum operating temperature of 180ºC (356ºF).

Resources:

• Team Site