A group of 20 students from the University of Stuttgart in Germany set a new world record. They are listed in the Guinness World Record for the world’s fastest-accelerating electric vehicles. It is a self-built prototype, designed and constructed by Greenteam, and achieved 0-62 mph in a staggering 1.461 sec. It set the record, breaking the earlier record of 1.513 sec, set by a team in Switzerland in 2016.
That’s 0.5sec faster than the Pininfarina Battista, 0.6sec faster than the Ariel Hipercar and 0.9sec faster than the Tesla Model S Plaid. It’s also nearly a full second faster than the 2.4sec achieved by the Bugatti Chiron. Weighing in at less than 145kg, the Greenteam racer broke the record on a track at Bosch’s site in Renningen. It produces 247bhp from dual electric motors, with four-wheel drive and a bespoke battery pack. The University of Stuttgart says it produces around 1726bhp per tonne, with a peak acceleration of 2g – around the same amount of force felt by astronauts re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. The record has been a year in the making for the team of 20, who study a range of subjects at the university. The car was originally due to attempt its record-breaking run last month, but the team was forced to cancel due to technical problems.
Development
Greenteam suffered a major setback with the attempt earlier this year when the car lost control at high speed and crashed into a tire stack that was in place as a track barrier. On breaking the record, team chairman Pavel Povolni was “delighted” to bring the record back to Germany. “We suffered a bitter setback at the end of July,” said Povolni. “Fortunately, the driver was unharmed, but the vehicle suffered enormous damage.”
“It was exhausting but a unique experience, and it was definitely worth the hard work,” said Diogo Silva, who drove the car to achieve the record. Due to the EV’s lightweight structure, it can achieve a peak acceleration “which is roughly equivalent to the force experienced by astronauts when a rocket re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere,” a source stated. The claims were made true after the car earned itself a Guinness World Record. According to the official Guinness World Record page, “The car used for the attempt is the 2021 formula student car “E0711-11Evo”, which was designed and produced by GreenTeam Uni Stuttgart. The attempt was held on a test track at the Robert Bosch Campus. The green team also managed to break the record back in 2012 as well. They also broke another record in 2015.
