Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Tech & Science

Electric car breaks world land-speed record

The Venturi Buckeye Bullet 3 (VBB-3), developed by the Monaco-based firm Venturi Automobiles and the engineering students of The Ohio State University, hit an average speed of 341.4 miles (549.43 kilometers) per hour, beating the previous best of 307.6 mph set by the VBB-2.5 in 2010.


Driven by Roger Schroer, the VBB-3 — dubbed as the ‘bullet car’ — clocked a top speed of 358 mph during the run on Monday. The record is still to be confirmed by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).
“I each time enjoyed driving the car and achieving this performance. But at those speeds you have to focus on your task not on your emotions. I know we can go further. This week the track was good. No main vehicle instability. Much better than the last days during tuning and testing. We always have to be patient and wait for the track to be ready,” said Schroer, a veteran driver from a transportation research center based in Ohio.


The 11-meter VBB-3, built in the first half of 2013, was supposed to run in September 2013 but several record attempts were cancelled owing to the severe weather conditions in Utah the last three years. To achieve the new world record, Schroer must finish within an hour on two runs of the 11-mile course.
Venturi owner Gildo Pallanca Pastor said VBB-3 is not just the world’s fastest electric car but the most powerful as well. The vehicle is equipped with power electronic systems and an automated transmission.


Pastor said the latest record only showed the significant achievement the partnership between the Venturi Automobiles and The Ohio State University produced in the automotive industry “in terms of research and development.”
Part of the team that built the VBB-3 was a group of 10 undergraduate and graduate students at The Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research. They spent at least six years designing and building the electric streamliner through the expertise and significant sponsorship funding from Venturi.
The vehicle is powered by two megawatts of lithium ion batteries manufactured by A123 Systems and has two custom electric motors developed by Venturi. It is the latest of electric racing vehicles built at the center, which boasts of a 22-year history of electric car racing.
“The progress made this year is a very important step in the quest to reach the 400 miles per hour goal,” said Giorgio Rizzoni, the advisor of the team’s faculty and director of the center.
“The support of Venturi and of numerous other industry partners is recognition of this program’s value in producing the next generation of engineers. As always, team members have a bright future in the automotive industry.”

Written By

You may also like:

World

The measures against USAID have been hugely controversial - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP Anna MoneymakerGersende RAMBOURGSouth Africa on Saturday condemned a “campaign of...

Business

TikTok is facing down a US law that ordered the company broken off from its Chinese owner ByteDance or otherwise be banned in the...

Tech & Science

Researchers have discovered the shrimp’s clubs feature a protective pattern that controls how stress waves travel through its body.

Entertainment

Diane Warren chatted about her record-breaking 16th career Oscar nomination for "Best Original Song," and her new documentary "Relentless."