It literally had to suction itself to the ground.
Electric Ride
Students have built a tiny EV from scratch that can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in a blistering 0.956 seconds — and it only a hair over 40 feet.
Now, the team has gotten word from Guinness World Records confirming the stunning result, which cuts the previous record of 1.461 seconds set by students from the University of Stuttgart last year by almost a third.
The stunt goes to show how much there still is to learn about aerodynamics and the astonishing capabilities of electric motor-powered drivetrains.
Getting Plaid
The team from the Academic Motorsports Club Zürich at ETH Zürich and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland built the 309-pound beast, dubbed "mythen," from entirely in-house components, including the chassis and the battery.
A lightweight carbon and aluminum honeycomb keeps the weight down, while a specialized powertrain gives it a whiplash-inducing 326 horsepower.
"But power isn’t the only thing that matters when it comes to setting an acceleration record – effectively transferring that power to the ground is also key," said Dario Messerli, head of aerodynamics at the Academic Motorsports Club, in a statement.
To stay glued to the ground under acceleration, the mythen literally suctions itself to the ground with what amounts to a vacuum cleaner.
With the advent of electric drivetrains, EVs have leapt ahead of the competition in recent years. According to Road & Track, the fastest production EV in the world is the Rimac Nevera, which takes a comparatively leisurely 1.71 seconds to accelerate to 60 mph.
But then again, its curb weight of 5,100 pounds puts it in a different category than the mythen altogether.
More on acceleration: Tesla Says New Firmware Update Will Make Its Cars Faster
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