Manufacturer Lightning Car Company Class Sports car (S) | Production 2017– (planned) Body style 2-seat coupé | |
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Designer Chris Longmore, Drive Design Engine Two 150 kW onboard (rear mounted) motors | ||
The Lightning GT is a battery-electric sports car under development by the Lightning Car Company which is a London-based privately owned and funded business.
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The project was initially launched to the public in July 2008 at the British International Motor Show, with deliveries originally expected in 2009, but sales to the public have been put back due to a lack of UK funding to the second quarter of 2017 when plans for production will be announced.
Technical details
The car is powered by twin rear-mounted synchronous motors, driving through independent reduction gearboxes under electronic torque control. The powertrain system is sourced from MAGTEC, the leading UK powertrain manufacturer, providing rear-wheel drive and a peak power output capability of 300 kW (408 PS; 402 bhp). with 4000 Nm of torque available at the wheels.
The Lightning GT accelerates to 97 km/h (60 mph) in less than 4 seconds and is geared for over 200 km/hr (124 mph). Its body will be made from carbon fibre and the chassis from a honeycomb aluminium structure. This unique H chassis will also house the battery modules which when integrated add massive torsional and beam strength. Final assembly location has yet to be determined, but it is likely to be outside of the UK.
A small amount of the development of the GT was assisted with a grant from the UK Government's Technical Strategy Board, as part of the EEMS Consortium. The Lightning GT development car excelled as a part of this consortium with 100% drivetrain and battery reliability over a full years monitored testing with just one day off the road for a minor suspension upgrade.It covered more miles than the rest of the consortium combined.
Battery
The standard battery specification includes two 22 kWh Altairnano lithium-titanate battery pack 'strings' which will take about ten minutes to recharge, assuming the amount of power required is available. The 9 kW standard onboard charger can fully recharge the batteries in five hours from a dedicated wired socket ( 32amp) or 12 hours from any standard socket. An optional onboard charger connected to a suitable dedicated domestic power source can recharge the car from zero in 2.5 hours. A full charge will give the vehicle a 'usable' mixed use range of over 240 km (150 mi). Lightning are developing further battery combinations to take the range to substantially over 250 miles by launch time.