Swiss university students have broken the record for the fastest accelerating electric vehicle (EV) with a hand-built car that achieved 0 to 100 km/h in under a second.
Breakneck speed
The diminutive car is a joint project between students of research university ETH Zurich and Lucerne University - all members of the Academic Motorsports Club Zurich (AMZ).
Guiness World Records confirmed the feat at the Switzerland Innovation Park in Duebendorf. The EV driven by Kate Magetti recorded 0.956 seconds, obliterating the previous record of 1.461 seconds that belonged to a German team from the University of Stuttgart.
An engineering feat
Dubbed "Mythen," the hand-built EV uses a mix of carbon fibre and aluminium honeycomb for the bodywork and chassis. It weighs only 140 kg. The single-seat racer gets power from four electric motors, which the students developed in-house. The system generates around 240 kW.
“But power isn’t the only thing that matters when it comes to setting an acceleration record,” explains Dario Messerli, head of aerodynamics at AMZ.
At this scale and speed, the team needed much more than building techniques derived from Formula One. It developed a bespoke vacuum system that provides superior grip on the outset while helping transfer power from the ground.
The world record has changed hands back and forth between AMZ and the University of Stuttgart team. AMZ won in 2014 and 2016, and the Germans responded in 2015 and 2017.
The ball is now on the latter's court to win back the record, but beating a subsecond time might be hard to pull off.