It is not the outright speed that is impressive about this record attempt, but the engineering challenge of accelerating a 1000kg electric vehicle to such a high speed and sustaining that speed over a measured mile, before stopping safely all within a relatively short distance then turning round and doing it again within an hour. It’s a tremendous technical challenge but we believe it’s about time someone moved this record on to demonstrate just how far EV technology has come.

—Lord Drayson

The Drayson B12 69/EV was not originally conceived as a land speed car. Having raced the Lola chassis in sports car championships around the world powered by a second generation bio-fueled Judd V10 engine, Drayson Racing Technologies took the decision to explore the potential of the electric drivetrain and use the familiar Lola chassis as a starting point. This provided the team with a tougher engineering challenge than starting from a ground-up design—particularly in packaging the drivetrain to maintain the rigidity and crash safety of the original car.

To challenge for the record, some changes have been made to the set-up of the car and drivetrain that are consistent with racing at a low downforce circuit. This will give the B12 69/EV the traction to achieve maximum acceleration in the short distance available, sustain maximum speed over a measured mile and stop safely.

The reason we are doing this is to showcase the maximum level of EV performance at the moment—and in a real racing car rather than a teardrop-shaped land speed record car. We are also demonstrating the future potential of technologies like wireless charging in speeding the adoption of high performance EVs. It’s a great way to build up to the Formula E championship that we are competing in from 2014 and will demonstrate that Britain is at the forefront of this vital technology, which I believe represents the future of the automobile.

—Lord Drayson

The basic Drayson B12 69/EV with a carbon Lola LMP1 chassis is powered by a 30 kWh battery pack encased in a carbon battery cell integrated into the chassis to become a structural component. The battery is designed to be modular offering a range of power, capacity and weight configurations. Four axial Flux Motors (2 per rear wheel) with integrated transmission generate 640 kW (850 bhp). The vehicle is charged by a 20kW QualcommHalo wireless charging system.

For the land-speed record attempt, the bodywork has a low-drag configuration. Power is reduced to 480 kW (600 bhp), and the high-power battery pack is reduced to 20 kWh. Weight is below 1000 kg without a driver.