Lightning GT

The first product from the Lightning Car Company, the £120,000 all-electric sports car will be trialled as part of a consortium taking part in the government's £25 million electric car project through the Technology Strategy Board during 2010.

The Lightning GT is Britain’s first electric GT sports car and, when it achieves volume production, will inevitably be compared to the American Tesla Roadster. They are however very different cars whose only shared characteristics are that they are both electric sports cars aimed at the same segment of the car market.

The Lightning GT is highly innovative. It combines classic British sports car design with racing car technology and groundbreaking, state-of-the-art battery power and electric motors.

Ultra-fast full charge in ten minutes

Battery technology takes a major step forward in the Lightning GT. In 2000, US company Altairnano Inc. established a research programme to create an ultra safe, high power battery using cutting-edge nanotechnology. The result is the NanoSafe battery which uses nano titanate materials instead of graphite and has the capability of ultra-fast charging. Lightning is aiming to offer three options:

• Charging via a domestic 13A supply: overnight charge of twelve hours using an onboard charger

• Charging via a domestic dedicated high power socket: standard charge of 4.5 hours using an onboard charger

• Charging via a three phase high power charger: ultra-fast charge of 10 minutes

The batteries have a life expectancy of over twelve years and can retain up to 85% charge capacity after 15,000 charges. They also deliver power per unit weight and unit volume several times that of conventional Lithium-Ion batteries.

Lightning say that their GT will travel the best part of 200 miles on a single charge –less than the Tesla Roadster’s claimed 244 mile range.

Revolutionary electric car drive system

The electric propulsion is also revolutionary. The system is called Hi-Pa Drive and it’s from British company Protean Electric Ltd. Four 120 kW motors positioned by each of the four wheels provide integrated motor and drive electronics producing an ultra high power density - up to 20 times more than conventional systems. There is full traction control on all four wheels independently.

The compact, energy-efficient, electric wheel motors produce unrivalled levels of torque with internal heavy-duty tapered roller bearings that can withstand heavy radial loads for robust use. Yet they achieve the power to weight ratio important for the performance sports car capability of the Lightning.

Around 30% of a car’s energy is lost through braking where the heat created simply disappears into the environment. Using an innovatory regenerative braking system for the Lightning GT, when the driver wishes to slow down there are no discs involved and no heat is created. The motors by each wheel simply turn to reverse using the power created as the vehicle slows down to recharge the battery power supply.

700 bhp provides sensational performance

The combination of the Altairnano NanoSafe lithium-titanate battery pack, plus the Hi-Pa drive system produces 700 bhp with a 0-60 mph time of 4.0 seconds and a top speed limited to 130 mph.

Understandably, these performance figures are indicative only at this stage in the Lightning GT’s life. The company will be able to offer actual figures when the car is closer to launch in 2010.

Using racing car technology, the Lightning GT is built on a carbon fibre/aluminium honeycomb monocoque chassis with a body of a carbon fibre and Kevlar composite, giving both light weight and extreme strength.

More British electric cars to come

Ian Sanderson, Chairman of the Lightning Car Company, is reported as saying: ‘The Lightning GT should be ready for sale in spring 2010. We have deposits, and we're pushing ahead with our plans.

‘It's our intention that it is the first of a number of models. A limo-sized model is planned, as we think a high-end chauffeur-driven car with electric power would work well for executives travelling around cities.’

Sanderson is eager to use British technology and promote the company as British. ‘We want to promote the fact we are proud to be British, and use our technology to build knowledge for Britain and eventually create jobs for the UK economy,’ he said.

The Lightning Car Company deserves government support

The Lightning GT is a tremendously exciting project. In its use of state-of-the-art technology it is far more revolutionary than the Tesla Roadster. It deserves to win and the Lightning Car Company deserves support to produce the GT and to develop further models using the same powertrain as the GT.

In June 2009, Tesla Motors received approval for about $465 million in low-interest loans from the US Department of Energy to accelerate the production of affordable, fuel-efficient electric vehicles. Tesla will use $365 million for production engineering and assembly of the new Model S and $100 million for a powertrain manufacturing plant. that will supply all-electric powertrain solutions to other car manufacturers.

This level of funding indicates the massive financial investment necessary to bring a new model to market and to lay the foundations for more models in the future. Does Lightning have access to this kind of funding and will the government provide any financial backing to the company?

The government’s aim is to make the UK the hub of the global electric car industry. The trials that the government is operating through the Technology Strategy Board with the consortia of manufacturers and energy companies during 2010 are a step in the right direction. But if the government’s laudable aim is to be realised, it should provide the low-interest loans to enable the Lightning Car Company to build the electric cars of the future.