Nemesis Supercar Breaks EV Land Speed Record
This week the UK land speed record for electric vehicles was broken by Nick Polton in the Nemesis Supercar. The modified Lotus Exige was created by Ecotricity, the UK’s biggest green electricity company, and managed a top speed of 151mph. The record breaking attempt was conducted at the Elvington airfield, near York, and the supercar was able to break Don Wales’ 10 year old record, which previously stood at 137mph.
According to the company the Nemesis is able to reach the top speed of 200mph and can go from 0-100mph in 8.5secs, though due to aerodynamic and safety reasons the car could not be put through its full paces. Ecotricity have stated that it will take 30mins to charge the car and can travel anywhere between 100-150 miles before needing to be recharged.
A press release by Admiral.com, one of the UK’s largest car insurance providers, states that the Nemesis Supercar was originally “purchased on eBay for £10,000 before subjecting it to around £750,000 worth of modifications to completely rebuild the entire vehicle.” In order to manage the attempt the car chassis was lengthened by 90mm and the centre of gravity in the car was lowered.
In a statement Dave Vince the founder of Ecotricity said: “This is brilliant. We built the Nemesis to smash the stereotype of electric cars as something Noddy would drive - slow, boring, not cool - and I think we've done exactly that today. Hopefully this will further stimulate debate about the future of transport in Britain and how we'll be getting around when the world runs out of oil. What we've been able to demonstrate is that wind-powered cars are not just feasible, but can be a load of fun."
When you set the Nemesis next to a number of other supercars, like the ones in the video below, you can see that Dave Vince is right and the Nemesis is certainly not your run of the mill, boring electric car. It has all the looks of a modern-day supercar and obviously has the speed to match most others.