Paris preview: Exagon gets Furtive
September 28, 2010 § Leave a Comment
French motorsport firm Exagon Engineering – maker of electric buggies for an ice-racing series – has announced a 2+2 range-extended coupe it calls the Furtive-eGT. Claimed to be a potential Tesla-beating sports car, its pair of Siemens motors develop 340bhp and take it 0-60 in 3.5 seconds; its small range-extending petrol engine allows for a total range of 800km (400km in all-electric mode, an extra 400km with the engine acting as a generator). Exagon says it could start production in 2012; the Furtive-eGT will be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show later this week.
- Component-supplier Valeo is to showcase its latest tech in a concept EV at the Paris Show: battery management systems and drivetrain components will be highlighted, apparently, along with “realistic, high-performance solutions for mass production” of electric cars.
- An alliance of 70 companies and 17 universities and research centres has been formed to develop electric vehicles and technological innovation in the Italian auto industry, reports del Corriere della Sera. Participants include Pininfarina, Ferrari, Fiat, Brembo, Piaggio, Dallara, Electrolux, Indesit, the universities of Rome, Padua, Palermo and Naples, and the polytechnics of Milan and Turin; the aim is to “win leadership” for Italy in “a rapidly-growing sector”, says the paper.
- Interesting research at the Argonne National Laboratory: putting petrol into a compression-ignition (diesel-type) engine. Reduces nitrous oxides emissions and particulates, gives super-precise ignition control and diesel-like fuel consumption, says an engineer in a post for Wired. All enabled by firing top-dead centre, as in the Scuderi engine.
