Another Point of Singularity

I've always maintained that I wouldn't mind driving an electric car if every other Joe out there on the highway was driving one too. I don't mind going slower as long as the rest of the traffic wasn't a hazard.

Looks like that's not even a worry now. Check out the eight wheeled Japanese electric car called "Elicia" (Electric Lithium Ion Car) that just debuted at a Japanese car show.

It can do over 200 mph and 400 kph. Eight wheels... wow... I'm on this thang like stank on a pig.

Eliica: Eight-wheeled Wonder

By EV World

Imagine a 21st century family sedan that can do 400 kph and doubles as an mobile conference room, while being powered by a 640 hp, pollution-free electric drive system

Published: 07-May-2004
When the world's gasoline gauge tips towards "empty" in the coming decades, we're going to have to use a lot of imagination and creativity to compensate.

Thankfully, 40 students -- and faculty members -- at Keio University in Japan, led by professor of engineering Hiroshi Shimizu, are thinking ahead... way ahead... in the form of Eliica, the eight-wheeled successor to the wildly innovative Kaz electric car, also a product of the Keio University team's fertile imagination.

Powered by eight 55kW electric motors and a huge bank of lithium-ion batteries, the five-passenger vehicle is designed around two basic models: Type A with a top speed of 400 kph and a range of 200 km between charges; Type B with a top speed of 190 kph but a range of 320 km. Measuring 5.1 meters long by 1.9 meters wide, the car cost an estimated 500 million yen, provided by corporate sponsors.

To illustrate the potential of the car, the students created a video that depicts the car as it might be used by a business to travel to a meeting. We were so intrigued by the short video that we thought EV World readers would also find it of interest. To view it in either Windows Media Player or Quicktime, visit the http://www.eliica.com web site and select "Movie" from the menu options.

EV World extends its congratulations and appreciation for what Professor Shimizu's team has accomplished over the decade and their confidence in the battery electric vehicles, stretching the boundaries, showing what is possible, and definitely thinking "outside the box."

Copyright 1998-2005, EVWorld.com, Inc. All rights reserved