we have little doubt that electric cars could be fast, but what matters to us, or the rest of the eager eco-conscious car lovers, is mileage. however, that doesn’t stop Detroit Electric from making its SP:01 Electric Sports Car go fast (and also making it looking very Lotus-pretty at the same time). driving the car’s rear wheels is a 150 kW (201 hp) electric motor, juiced by a lightweight, purpose-designed lithium polymer battery pack rated at 37 kWh. with the combination of a powerful electric motor and a lightweight carbon fiber bodywork, the SP:01 willingly makes the century sprint in a lightning quick 3.7 seconds, and has a top speed of 155 mph (249 km/h). transmission is available in 4-speed, 5-speed, or 2-speed automatic, and it has a maximum range of 188 miles (300 km), which is actually pretty impressive. a fully independent double wishbone suspension setup with high performance gas dampers take care of the handling aspect, while a AP Racing/Brembo combo setup sees to the braking needs. a user-adjustable regenerative braking system is in place, though no technicality were offered.
just in case you are wondering about its charging duration, it takes 4.3 hours to get it to full charge via max charging rate, or 10.7 hours using EU standard outlet. there’s an unique feature that we thought worth highlighting and that’s the 360-POWERBACK. the 360-POWERBACK is a patented bi-directional charging and discharging system that allows the SP:01 to be charged at 8 kWh and this same system is also designed to detect power failure and offers user with option (via GSM network) to restore power to the home using the stored energy in the car. while the usefulness of the latter is debatable, we view it as a good-to-have feature. in any case, you can look forward to a limited number (999, to be exact) of the Detroit Electric SP:01 Electric Sports Car hitting the dealerships this August, each with a starting price of $135,000. more look in the gallery below.
