Dale Vince's 'wind powered' Lotus Exige EV project gets a BMS (w/Video)

We've been reporting on the Ecotricity sponsored EV project since June 2009.

The car uses Prismatic Lithium ion cells that give a range of 150 miles. Two BLDC motors, one for each rear wheel, are connected to the standard CV drive shafts with a reduction gear arrangement using Gilmer belts (hence the supercharger sound track). The motors are powered by a pair of UQM inverters. The car will do 0-60 in 4 sec.

Yes, it's a bit behind schedule. Many months actually. Something to do with the difficulties of designing a battery management system (BMS) to keep it from bursting into a ball of flames while being properly put through its sports car paces – what's somewhat euphemistically referred to as a thermal runaway situation.

Those problems seem to be sorted now so performace testing is next on the To Do list for the team.

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