Not looking for trouble, finding it anyway

The people that know me, know that I've never been a speed freak. If anything quite the opposite, low and slow when it comes to cars.  But I too have fallen prey to the thrill of speed and power when I know that I have it.  Anyone who buys a vehicle that has speed does not buy it for the practicality, there are plenty of cars that are perfectly capable of getting a person from point a to point b.  However, getting from point a to point b is just that much more fun with some added power.

The stigma regarding electric vehicles and their lack of power is slowly ebbing away.  People are beginning to see that electric cars are not just fast, they can be much faster than traditional gasoline-powered because of instant torque.

When I did my review of the Smart ED in May 2013, I knew that the car had some torque. I did not know what they meant by "the kickdown".  That little extra push at the bottom of the accelerator makes all the difference.  When depressing the accelerator on the Smart ED to the floor you get about 75% of the power or roughly 50 hp.  But the motor is capable of 75 hp.  Granted you don't want to push the motor at full power all the time and Mercedes-Benz is aware of this.  They give you about three minutes of full power per fifteen, so that you do not burn out the motor or fry the batteries.

It is that extra 25 hp that is what makes all the difference.

I am aware that there are modified vehicles that can boost the performance of their internal combustion engine vehicle with an additive (Nitrous oxide).  But not many people get that as an option when the buy or lease a new vehicle ( I doubt that is an option anywhere).

On the streets of Silicon Valley, where I drive daily, I get many strange looks and stares.  I've grown accustomed to the comments from people in other vehicles who seem to think that I can't hear them (or else they don't care).  But every now and then, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights, I get street racing propositions. Mind you I have never once agreed to a street race, nevertheless they still happen.

There has got to be some psychology behind it.  I've read that certain predatory animals give chase when something runs.  And so it seems is the case with the mentality of a person who owns a fast car.  It's not always a conscious decision to race.  You have the capacity and you act on it.

A couple of nights ago I was being chatted up by another driver about my tiny car and the light turned green.  As I often do at the front of the line, I sped off.  It wasn't however obvious that I had inadvertently begun racing until I realized that the Mercedes Benz SL500 in the turn lane next to me was flooring it.  The driver apparently needed to gain access to the far right lane, that I was already using, to turn right at the next light.  He did get over in front of me, with less than half a car length to spare. And at that point I let him as I did not actually want to race.

I'm quite sure that I surprised the driver of SL-class in that he knew he needed to get into my lane, but never expected a vehicle so small to have such power.  It is like driving a "sleeper", that is a car that doesn't look like it has power.

National Electric Drag Racing Association

Drag racing is certainly not typically what people tend to think when they hear the words "electric car".  But the truth is that the National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA) is nothing new.  The association has been around for nearly 20 years, but electric car racing has been around since the advent of the electric car.  There is however one unique thing about electric car drag racing that you might not know, they kickgas.

Truth be told, my electric Smart is not built for drag racing.  It does 0-60 MPH in about 13 seconds.  But the first 0-45 is definitely quick.  However, the 1972 Datsun in the picture above, can reach that speed in under 2 seconds.  Thanks to Mr. John Wayland of Portland, Oregon, we can glimpse the world of electric drag racing via his website http://www.plasmaboyracing.com

Drag Racing

Whether you've been to a drag racing event or if you've just seen it on TV, you're probably expecting some incredible noise.  For the last 100 years, drag racing has been associated with very large, powerful, and loud engines.  Many people directly associate the "loud" with "power".  But what if that were just a misunderstanding?

In general we know that internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles do not perform well and variable speed.  That's why the EPA gives cars a rating for city and highway driving.  Shifting gears in a transmission is necessary to get the engine into the power band (that's the point where the engine is working best).  Electric motors do no suffer from the troubles that internal combustion engines do and to boot, they have exceptional torque at all velocities.

In drag racing, torque is more important than the top speed of the vehicle.  If you have a great deal of torque, that is; turning force from a stationary position, you will do better in a drag racing.   At the start of a drag race involving two ICE vehicles, you will often hear the driver revving the motor up into the power band so that when the light turns green, he can get the best performance from the engine.

Electric cars do not have to shift gears and they have the best torque without revving the motor, so they pretty much win every time.

Under the Hood

John Wayland spoke with David Pogue on a multi-part series for PBS NOVA, called "Making Stuff".   The particular episode where the two men conversed was about "Making Stuff: Faster".  John pitted his electric car against, the muscle car that David was driving in an actual drag race.  The muscle car was a 1972 Buick Skylark with a 5.7L V8, versus White Zombie, John's vehicle of choice.  The times were 11.8 for John and 16.2 for David.

You might say that the Buick Skylark is nothing compared to a heavily modified modern drag race vehicle, but the White Zombie's electric motor drive train generates 538 hp and 1250 ft-lbs of torque.  Yeah, over 1000 ft-lbs of torque.  With the exception of the Bugatti Veyron, there's not much else out there with comparable torque.

Silent but Devastating

It's inevitable, once the new generation of gear heads gets wind of this, the move will be to the faster electric vehicle.  As of yet, and with over a century of work poured in, internal combustion it still reliant on shifting a transmission.  But that noise that is so familiar, is really just energy lost.  A truly efficient engine wouldn't make so much noise because it would be busy making power.

The future is now, and the sooner it's realized that electric motors are just that much more powerful than internal combustion, the sooner we can move on to faster and quieter.

As a consolation to the loss of the noise, you could consider that the cops won't pick up on your street race as easily.  They won't hear it.  But then it could be just as bad because anyone who's in the road wouldn't hear you coming and might be a casualty.  Not that I condone street racing.

Conclusion

Now that electric cars are coming out the shadows, we will probably see more participation in the National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA).  And who knows, in the distant future, maybe our great grandchildren won't take a second look at tinkering with an old gasoline dinosaur, except in a museum.

Check out some videos of the White Zombie smoking some ICE