No Hurry In EV By Murray

Forgive me for inflicting one more scar on an already broken record, but pure speed is by no means the be all and end all of any sports orientated car. Right, now I've said that, I'm going to pretty much contradict it completely,  but I think there's a valid point here.

Gordon Murray Design, headed by the legendary father of the McLaren F1, has shown off its electrically powered creation, the Teewave AR.1. Commissioned by Toray Industries as a showcase for complete carbon construction in cars, it's an Elise sized two seated with onboard battery power, double wishbone suspension, and an 850 kg kerb weight, which is commendable given a quarter of that mass is provided by typically hefty batteries.

So why the slight tone of moan? Well, despite this being a simple prototype, with no production plans or viability, I slightly resent the pitch of this car as anything sporty. Yes it is light, but the unchanged 63bhp powertrain from a Mitsubishi iMiev gives it performance that would only marginally outstrip my 13 year old Ford Ka. 11.4 seconds to 60mph - that's not pacey by any stretch of the imagination.

As convincingly pointed out to my on Twitter by motoring journalist and nice chap Antony Ingram (well worth a follow @antonyingram), the 100+ mile range is impressive, but I stand by my response. A sports car should always put performance at least slightly ahead of practicality, else it forgoes its raison d'etre. And you don't build a car out of carbon fibre and put its power behind the driver unless it has at least a modicum of sporting pretensions.

Now as I've said, this isn't going to go on sale, it's merely a technical exercise. The reason the Teewave makes me uneasy is that unless there is a seismic shift away from the electrification of motoring, this could be the future for affordable sports cars, like the Elise and MX-5. Not in the next decade, but in maybe 20 years, i.e. when a lad like me might just about to be able to own one.

I'm aware that to criticise a Gordon Murray project through the medium of Tyre Roar is hardly gallant, it's verging on blasphemy, as the man is a bona fide genius, an automotive tour de force. I just hope that manufacturers of tomorrow won't settle for those kind of figures when the electric sports car becomes the must have model in the line-up, just as the soft-roader SUV has been during the last decade.

 Oh, and as I've ranted mentioned on Tyre Roar before, can someone please design a properly good looking EV? The AR.1 just isn't my cup of Tee. Sorry.

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