RaceAbout Association unveils AWD Electric X-Prize car in Helsinki

RaceAbout Association has unveiled its electric RaceAbout (ERA) at the Cable Factory in Helsinki. The Finnish vehicle is a contender for the X-Prize award. The four-wheel-drive electric sportscar is now beaded to the U.S. for this month’s “shakedown stage” of the Progressive Automotive X-Prize competition.

Said to be "paving the way for creating an electric car industry in Finland", the majority of the 60 companies and institutions involved with the project are from that Nordic country. One of the technologies involved are the direct-drive in-board electric motors the ERA has powering each wheel. The design, developed specifically for electric vehicles by Lappeenranta University of Technology and also shared by Valmet's EVA concept, allow builders to forgo the use of a mechanical gearbox. No power or torque figures are provided in the technical data for the car.

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