By Bob Difley
This article may be of little importance unless you own a motorhome with a built in garage, or are ready to tow a flatbed trailer for your dinghy. However, it does illustrate where the Electric Vehicle (EV) technology is taking us and what we may expect to see somewhere down the road. The vehicle described below is the creation of the Swedish company Koenigsegg. You can read the entire version the Electric Forum’s article here.
The Koenigsegg Quant
The 2009 Geneva Motor Show will go down in history with regards to Koenigsegg and the release of the long-awaited Quant electric vehicle. This is a four seater sport car which is manufactured using the latest photovoltaic coating, the latest aerodynamic technology and the latest electric power motor technology. In many ways this is the holy grail of the electric car industry so far and has caught the attention of manufacturers and consumers around the world.
The electric power
This is really the ultimate electric powered vehicle on the market at the moment and uses the latest NLV solar technology which makes full use of the whole surface of the vehicle. Powered by electric batteries and said to be capable of travelling 500 km without a physical recharge this is only the tip of the iceberg with regards to the technology under the bonnet. As we suggested above, the photovoltaic coating of the vehicle actually captures energy from the sun, while driving, creating solar power which then tops up the cars electric power supply.
The company claims that the photovoltaic system is capable of recharging the car’s battery in just 20 minutes, a massive improvement on the 6 to 8 hours which many other electric vehicles need to fully recharge. However, when you also consider the vehicle is capable of going from 0 to 60 mph in just 5.2 seconds, is capable of a top speed of 170 mph, has all of the mod cons which you would expect in a high-tech sports vehicle and makes use of the latest aerodynamic shape, what more could you ask for?
Is the Koenigsegg Quant the face of the future?
There is no doubt that this award-winning Swedish manufacturer is set to take the electric car market to another level as and when the vehicle is released to the commercial market. Until now the company has had an excellent reputation within niche markets but this is all set to change in the future.
We have seen no suggestions of price for the vehicle, although it will not be cheap, but when you consider it takes in the latest high-tech aerodynamics, environmentally friendly power as well as all of the mod cons and high-tech gadgets you’d expect with a top of the range sports car, it looks as though you will get what you pay for.
Are we seeing a revolution in the electric car market?
One of the major downsides of the current electric car market is the fact that many vehicles are only capable of short journeys, need up to 8 hours to recharge their batteries and are on the whole uneconomical for longer journeys. However, the photovoltaic recharging system used in the Koenigsegg Quant has taken electric car power to a new level and one which could well be duplicated across the industry.
We really are standing on the edge of a substantial revolution in the electric car market although there is no doubt that traditional petrol and diesel fuelled vehicle manufacturers will try to muddy the water. The ability to obtain distances in the region of 500 km between charges, reach speeds approaching 200 mph and also travel in luxury is something which many people never thought they would see from an electric vehicle in their lifetime.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the Koenigsegg Quant electric powered sports car is set to make a significant impact when it hits the main market in the short to medium term. Even though the vehicle is likely to be manufactured on a limited edition basis, the basics are very much there for next-generation electric vehicles. The key now is the ability to produce an economy sized affordable vehicle which offers the same journey length at a price which is comparable with traditional vehicles of today.
Check out my website for RVing tips and destinations and my ebooks, BOONDOCKING: Finding the Perfect Campsite on America’s Public Lands, Snowbird Guide to Boondocking in the Southwestern Deserts, and 111 Ways to Get the Biggest Bang out of your RV Lifestyle Dollar.
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justelectric
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Bob
In my previous comment I used an incorrect word “tenant” when I actually should have used “tenet”. Please excuse my error.
Bob
Bob
Why is it that all the hype brought forth on specific RV blogs re: electric vehicles seems to be mysterious? A while ago there was a Class A RV (weighing 30Klb) and able to be recharged in a few hours? Now we find (or don’t find) a forward looking technological breakthrough sportscar having an unbelievable top speed, being able to drive 500km between charges and recharged in a matter of minutes. Having explored the Koenigsegg website and searching for the elusive Quant I come up with this:
” PRESS RELEASES
Fatal error: Call to a member function fetchModules() on a non-object in /home/k/koenigse/www/pressreleases.php on line 55″
All I seem to find on their website are high speed, fossil fuel burning and carbon producing sports cars that win awards for top speed performance.
Did I miss something there? Where is this QUANT?
Having been in the electrical technology business all my life there is one and only one tenant we need to be aware of when dealing with power (and Horse Power) and that is this: P=EI or Power is equal to the Voltage times the Current. Unless there has been a miraculous quantum leap breakthrough in battery technology (which by the way would shake the world to its knees if it were true) this utter nonsense is just that.
Battery power storage is very, very limited. Why is it that the Chevrolet Volt, being touted as an “all electric car”, actually has a gasoline powered engine? Because the batteries cannot store enough Power (E times I) to power the car other than for a few miles. Add to that the Power needed to run the A/C or heater blower (again E times I) and we can see why this is just technological wishing.
Publishing unrealistic (fantasy) claims regarding vehicles, batteries, solar technology actually is a disservice to this much needed area of technology and to the future of EV’s. We need this technology to continue its development but we need to be accurate in presenting the current state of the acquisition and storage of Power.
Howard Olsen
Cool car! It looks a little like the US made Tesla ($100K) on steroids. While some people whine about the cost of new technology, others are doing something to help get us off foreign oil dependence. How many billions do we send to unfriendly foreign regimes each month? Our fossil fuels aren’t too expensive, they are artificially kept low enough to make alternative fuels and technology appear too costly. Should we discontinue our auto industry and all drive foreign mini-cars? I think we must make an effort to be part of the solution. My big idea for 2011 (see link above) is to use hybrid automobile technology to serve as a backup emergency power plant for the home. We do drive a diesel powered RV but we use solar energy for electricity and hot water at home. I also drive a solar charged electric motorbike (a modified 2003 Viento). Our last new car was 1971. Maybe it is time to invest in the future.
butterbean carpenter
Howdy guru Bob,
Whatever happened to the electric Winnebago they were trying out???
dusty
Dave M. – I have run into you or your idealistic soul brothers many times as an engineer for 45 years. Just like water can’t be changed to gasoline some things will not happen. Henry Ford was a genius for organizing his manufacturing systems but he didn’t bend the laws of physics. This car and the characteristics combination are plain marketing BS.
Dave Maurice
Well the negative thinking seems to be abundant. I’ll bet the same people would have poured cold water on Henry Ford when he had the idea of production line building of those horseless things so even the shallow pocket people could buy one. I wonder what ever came of that idea?
Dave
Geoffrey Pruett
This tecnology is recent but not that new. It is no surprise given US business idea that the stockholder gets something back every year that this is a foreign company releasing the product. Thin film solar is not a new idea but is still in the heavy research process to bring costs down to real world market levels. The potential is very real as a delivery van based on something like the Ford Transit mini van could be independant of the power grid and still run a realistic route on a daily basis. There is much research being done in this area in the US, just not by US owned and financed companies. The lack of brain power from US schools in the pure research area is becoming a real handicap. The proof that the technology is not real new is that it is covered in the National Electrical Code which is an electrical safety code and ponders things very fully, and very slowly.
Manuel Enos
As always, I believe in asking the real question. HOW MUCH?? The Chevy Volt goes for $40k…I think that is a little steep for a vehicle that will only take you about 40 miles and you can barely put your groceries in it. Then, you have to switch to gas. That’s about $1k per mile!! Shoving something down our throat is what this administration is all about just to push their green agenda before it is really even ready to be implemented!! Hate to be political, but that’s what is all about these days. I can purchase a Hyundi and get 40mpg without worrying about recharging every 40 miles and for alot less that $40,000.00 and I don’t like RICE ROCKETS!!!!
Ron
Ok, so you’re on your daily commute to work in your planet saving electric car driving on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago during a snowstorm, when suddenly traffic comes to a stop because of an accident. After an hour or so of running the electric heater, the low battery indicator begins to beep. Snow has covered the revolutionary photovoltaic paint job on your car designed to save the planet from global warming, while inside you begin to get cold…….VERY cold. Just in front of you you see the exhaust from one of those planet destroying, fossil fueled vehicles. What to do! Do you stick by your planet saving beliefs and possibly die from hypothermia, or do you ask to stay inside the planet destroyer to keep warm?
peholden
Wow. Beyond wow. Indeed, too good to be true. I smelled a rat when I read that it would charge the battery in 20 minutes from sunlight. There just isn’t enough energy in 20 minutes of sunlight falling on the surface area of a car to propel the thing more than a slow city bock.
Sorry, I don’t believe it.
dusty
As an EE engineer i would like to express more then a little doubt about the characteristics combination stated for this car.
– 500KM range – that’s a LOT of amp-hours in batteries
– solar recharge from on board cells in 20 mins?
This almost sounds like another case of marketing vapor.
If those solar cells are real i’d sure love to replace whats on my RV with them. However even the best cells i’ve seen in aero space coun’t pull this off.
hoppe
Wonder what the translation, of ‘not cheap’ looks like in $s. It sounds like a rig to take Boondocking, just tap the car for your electric needs.
I’m liking the idea. Probably not the price, I’m afraid.
Now, can we get this ‘finish’ on the roof and sides of our RVs? Need some money just hook up to the grid and pump a bunch of juice, and get a check.