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By Ben Oliver
02 December 2008 10:00
The e-Ruf just confirms our view that its maker is among the world’s coolest car companies. Not content with taking some of the best cars in the world and making them slightly better, and producing the world’s first production car to crack 200mph (it wasn’t the Ferrari F40) Ruf has now decided to take on Tesla and produce a high-end electric sports car based on the RT12, its take on the current 911.
It’s just a prototype for now, but we’ve driven it, Ruf already has 30 firm orders for it, and a plans to build 50 or so each year from the end of 2009. The e-Ruf would be an impressive achievement from a major global player; for a tiny, bespoke sports car firm to commit so much to electric power requires some nerve.
Firstly, it’s heavy; at 1910kg the weight is up around 400kg, with the battery pack at 550kg. An eight-hour charge from a standard socket will give you a range of between 150 and 200 miles. Peak power of 200bhp and torque of 480lb ft give a top speed of about 140mph, and a 0-60mph under seven seconds.
Ruf’s aim, for now, is just to match the performance of a standard 911 rather than one of its insane Yellowbirds. It’s still some way off that target, but future prototypes will have smaller, lighter batteries and lighter bodywork to cut weight and improve performance. The Tesla uses carbonfibre panels to compensate for the weight of its batteries.
Anywhere there’s space; under the bonnet, where the rear seats would be and back into what was the engine bay, which now also houses the smaller electric motor.
The battery tech has been supplied by UK firm Axeon, which has plenty of experience engineering electric commercial vehicles and is keenly eyeing the fast-developing market for electric cars.
Thermal runaway has long been a problem for lithium ion batteries but Axeon claims to have cracked it, allowing Alois Ruf to design some bespoke panels for the e-Ruf without the usual slats and vents. The new chin is modelled on the 356, and the rear end on the 1973 2.7 RS with its elegant duck-tail. And while most manufacturers would plaster an environmental prototype with signage, Ruf limits itself to tiny green logos on the nose and wheel centres.
>> Click 'Next' below to read more of our e-Ruf first drive
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e-Ruf (2008) CAR review: the electric 911
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ElephantStomp says
RE: e-Ruf (2008) CAR review: the electric 911
SCR- thank you for your figures, they are broadly similar to what I believed to be true. As the irascible JB points out, we cannot divorce the means from generating electricity from the benefits of its usage. The total emission equation of the electric car vs the ICE equipped car therefore greatly benefits the latter. I believe that the de-coupling concept for the engine/transmission of the Volt provides the best, short and possibly lobg (fuel type dependant) solution. We can use our existing infrastructure, and then decide, via our green conscience, what type of motive power to use depending on the fuel or the electricity supply. Atomic- I believe that they are a dead end because, while the propulsion method is efficient in isolation, the production, storage and maintenance of electricity, is in total less efficient than an ICE. Do not forget that we often face electricity shoratges at peak loads, do we really want electric transportation to futher add to the load?
08 December 2008 05:44
JohnnyBimmer says
Atomic and Supercar - doesn't the fact petrol/diesel (ICE) units only give 35-40% of its energy up in motive power and yet still hammer the arse off an electric unit for "efficiency" give you a clue? ICE is working at a comfy trott while electric units are working at 90% of V-Max and petrol stillwins the race hands down. Has the penny dropped yet! Your "efficiency" as I've said before is a false God. Engineering is not about efficiency, it's about POWER. The other factor you miss lost in your efficiency charts is that electricity is generated by coaland natural gas at power stations by boiling water (yes, a steam engine) to drive huge magnetos to generate electricity. I don't know the efficiency of this process but it's still priced like that other hydrocarbon fuel driving ICE units. Electricity has had 100yrs to compete with ICE for transport use and for 100yrs it's been the loser by a wide margin. A few vacuous PR campaigns and a couple of low rent over-priced electric cars put into production and you guys are calling the end of ICE? Oil is staggeringly powerful and staggeringly cheap, there's nothing like it Gents. Takes more than a few puffs of hot air to move this giant of the energy market
07 December 2008 22:24
a t o m i c says
Elephantstomp, why are electric cars a dead end? AT THE MOMENT we can store about 1/10th as much energy in chemical batteries as we can in refined oil products, but we can use that energy 3 times as efficiently - so our current best guess battery electric car should have something like 1/3 the range of an ICE powered one - and so it proves in the real world. However, the WAY we make cars (out of pressed and welded steel) is not necessarily the best way, either for efficiency or safety, but it may be the cheapest. Battery electric propulsion forces automotive engineering forwards - and it's the expense of taking those necessary steps that is the main brake on development. My prediction is that progress WILL come, but probably not from our current industry leaders.
07 December 2008 19:58
Houdini says
Chinto - Have you ever tied to heat any space a battery source before? Not practical. The key issue is that power storage per space per weight (what ever your unit of measurement is) for batteries is dismal compared with petrol or diesel. Create a light compact energy storage devise and problem solved.
05 December 2008 18:09
supercarrambler says
I agree weight is the biggest issue and this can be resolved by ditching alot of the cars sound proof materials; not required with this type of propulsion, ditching the convential braking system with better retardation motors and the next generation of lithium batteries are about to be launched; much smaller and lighter, also their is alot of new developments in capacitor technology.
05 December 2008 14:33
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