An electric vehicle created by students of the University of Stuttgart has broken a Guinness record. The small single-seater is capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 1,461 seconds.
The record set took place on Friday 23rd September at the Bosch campus race track in Renningen, despite the autumn temperatures, and was confirmed by Guinness World Records on 6th October.
The fierce buggy is called the E0711-11 EVO and has been developed by 20 German students participating in the Formula Student with the GreenTeam team. This is the third time that the GreenTeam has broken the acceleration record for Formula Student, an automotive engineering competition between university students.
In 2012, the GreenTeam achieved a mark of 2.681 seconds. In 2015, he set a new record of 1.779 seconds. The new best time breaks a record of the Swiss team that prevailed since 2016: 1.513 seconds.
The latest version of the E0711-11 EVO accelerates from 0 to 100 in 1.461 seconds. By comparison, the fastest car Tesla produces, the Model S Plaid, accelerates from 0 to 100 in 2.1 seconds. Of course, the small electric single-seater weighs 15 times less: just 145 kg thanks to a new carbon chassis that reduces the model by 28 kilos anterior.
The engine has also improved over the previous version. From 156 it has gone to a maximum power of 180 kW. Due to the low weight of the vehicle, this electric power is equivalent to a car with 1750 CV per tonne, more than a Formula 1.
As you can imagine, driving something like this is not easy at all. The single-seater can reach a maximum acceleration of 2.5g, roughly the force astronauts experience when a rocket re-enters Earth’s atmosphere.
During tests in July, the car began to fall apart and crashed into a pile of tires that were acting as a barrier. Fortunately, the driver was uninjured, but the car sustained extensive damage, causing delays in the attempt to break the acceleration record. The setback did not demoralize the team, judging by the results.