Students from the University of Stuttgart have set a new world record for the fastest accelerating electric car (EV).
According to news outlet NPR, the electric racing car, built by 20 University of Stuttgart students known as the GreenTeam, can go from 0 to a little over 62 miles per hour in just 1.461 seconds. Its peak acceleration is “roughly equivalent to the force experienced by astronauts when a rocket re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere.”
GreenTeam held the record in 2012 with a time of 2.681 seconds. Then, the title went to the Netherlands and Switzerland, until the German team clocked 1.779 seconds in 2015. A Swiss crew broke that record in 2016 with 1.513 seconds, which remained unbeaten until now.
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It was the GreenTeam’s second attempt at the record this year after preparing for nearly a year. Guinness World Records said the record was verified at a test track in Renningen, Germany, on September 23.
GreenTeam’s electric car is incredibly lightweight and powerful. The carbon-fibre body weighs around 145kg and produces 241 horsepower.
EVs by nature are able to accelerate more quickly than petrol vehicles because they can deliver torque instantly and don’t need to rev up to suck in more fuel.
