ABSTRACT
In 1990, General Motors announced that its EV, the ‘Impact’, could accelerate to 100 km/h in just 8 s, had a top speed of 160 km/h (100 mile/h) and had a range of 240 km between charges. Running costs were about double the fossil-fuel equivalent but this cost was falling. The car was a totally new design with drag-reducing tyres and brakes which, when engaged, act as generators (regenerative braking). The car was powered by a 397 kg array of advanced gel electrolyte lead-acid batteries (32 at 10 V) and two small AC electric motors to drive the front wheels. The recharging time was about 2 hours but this could be reduced to 1 hour in an emergency. This was very impressive, but things have moved on still.
