Detroit Electric

[doug]

Well they do say, and I quote

Following five years of relentless research and engineering development, the first model to carry the renowned Detroit Electric logo

(How is it "renowned" if its their first model ever?)

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[/float-right]
More like spinning their wheels for five years. Renowned because they somehow acquired the rights to reuse the old Detroit Electric brand (1907–1939). This current incarnation isn't renowned for anything they've actually done.
Detroit Electric - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[GeekGirls]

It also offers some laughs...

Perhaps it's a typo and they meant "Finnish line." When do deliveries in Finland start? :wink:

 

[vfx]

Don't get all excited yet.

Detroit Electric | ZAP Electric Vehicles

Detroit Electric - Home

 

[VolkerP]

Ouch. My screen is glaring after I read the white-text-on-black-bkgd press release and switched back to this thread.

Heralding the rebirth of the original electric car brand, Detroit Electric has announced the establishment of its corporate headquarters on the 18th floor of the iconic Fisher Building, located in downtown Detroit, with Don Graunstadt, CEO, North America Operations at Detroit Electric, signing a long-term lease.

18th floor? Sure bet their engineers did thousands of electric miles before the first prototype rolled around - by riding the elevators :tongue:

 

[FalconNinetyD]

Detroit Electric releasing electric sports car to face Tesla Model S (pictures) | Northern Voices Online

 

[AnOutsider]

I love the "pictures" in the title. I suppose it's somewhat accurate, but the pictures are the teaser pic that's on DE's homepage and a stock picture of a Model S....

 

[ggies07]

I read there first model is a two seater over $100,000. How can that be competition for Tesla? Tesla is at their "level 2" phase now.

 

[Zythryn]

Funny reading the early statements they made.
Looks like they missed beating the Model S to market by almost a year so far...
That said, more competition is a good thing for consumers.

 

[Dan5]

And why would someone spend 135 K on this car when they can pick up a 4 door Model S which is quicker, has more range, has more room, has a better battery warranty, and a costs 35 K less?

Of course there's people who like Lotus, but there's not a huge market compared to sedans. Heck it took Tesla years to sell the amount that these guys want to sell in one year, and Tesla was the only EV in the game back then.. Anyone else see an issue.

Here's another:
DRIVEN: Detroit Electric’s electric Lotus Elise

Let's see the specs:
Based on the Lotus Elise
150kW (200hp) motor
0-100km/h (0-62mph) in 4.3 seconds
220km/h (137 mph) top speed
325km (202 mile) range
200,000km (124k miles) expected life of battery

Hmm, what car does that sound like?
Edit: Ironically, after watching the videos, I noticed the car literally sounded exactly the same as the Tesla Roadster.

240v 10A charges it in 6.5 hours. (fishy numbers 240*10*6.5 = 15.6kWh, should be impossible to travel 200 miles with just 15.6kWh, that's just 78Wh/mi)
240v 35A in 3.5 hours. (This one gets 240*35*3.5=29.4kWh, bit more believable)
240v 100A charges it to 80% in 10-15 minutes.

The engineer claims his motor is revolutionary because it is it makes 5kW per kg, while typical motors make 0.25kW per kg. The Tesla's motor makes a peak of at least 250hp=186kW, weights ~70lbs=32kg, so 5.8kW per kg.

Anyways perhaps this will be a less expensive version of the Tesla Roadster.

Edit: An interesting point is the electric Lotus Elise prototype seems to have kept the standard transmission from the original Elise. There is a clutch and at least three gears (I assume it has 5 gears, but the author only talked about shifting to third gear). I wonder how long a standard gearbox will last used this way.

 

[AMPd]

Detroit Electric to sell 135K electric sports car

Possible 150 mile range, but the article says it has 2 37kWh lithium polymer batteries and yet only a 150 miles range?
Uses a 4 speed transmission- why not go the tesla route and use a single gear, yes it will lower top speed which the car is advertised to reach 155mph but it'll be much simpler.

Detroit Electric SP:01 picks up where the Tesla Roadster left off - Autoblog

 

[bonnie]

Wasn't this discussion in Future Cars?

 

[stopcrazypp]

I think they mean 2 batteries with 37kWh total. There is no way they get only 150 miles from 74kWh (unless efficiency is really horrible like the Karma).

 

[vfx]

Wasn't this discussion in Future Cars?

News so old it's dusty.

 

[stopcrazypp]

News so old it's dusty.

Don't believe they showed how the car looked and the details of it until about an hour ago. All we got previously was a teaser picture.

 

[AMPd]

Wasn't this discussion in Future Cars?

I'm not sure, if it was I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused

@stopcrazypp that makes more sense, 74kWh would provide more range for sure
i just pictured one 37kWh in the front and one in the back

 

[UMD86]

Detroit Electric - All Electric Sports Car $135K

Detroit Electric unveils $135,000 battery-powered sports car

Reuters – 1 hour 23 minutes ago

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• View PhotoDetroit Electric's two-seat all electric sports car model named SP:01 is shown in this recent photo released to Reuters on April 3, 2013. REUTERS/Detroit Electric/Handout

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Symbol	Price	Change
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By Paul Lienert
DETROIT (Reuters) - Detroit Electric, a startup electric-car maker reviving a brand that dates back more than a century, unveiled its first model on Wednesday: a $135,000, battery-powered sports car that is to go into limited production in August.
Founded more than five years ago, Detroit Electric enters a still-nascent market that is struggling to find buyers. One of its would-be rivals, Fisker Automotive, a hybrid-electric sports-car company that hasn't built a car since last summer, has hired a law firm to advise on a possible bankruptcy filing.
With a projected top speed of 155 mph, the Detroit Electric SP:01 is "the world's fastest pure-electric sports car," the company says, adding the two-seater has a range of "just under 190 miles" between charges.
The car will be built in the Detroit area at a dedicated plant with an annual capacity of 2,500, the company said Wednesday at a reception at its new headquarters in Detroit's historic Fisher Building.
Detroit Electric plans to build only 999 SP:01's, which it says will be followed by "a new family of all-electric production cars, including two other high-performance models that will enter production by the end of 2014."
The SP:01 appears to borrow heavily from the British-built Lotus Elise -- no surprise considering a number of Detroit Electric executives previously worked for various affiliates of Lotus Cars.
Versions of the Elise have been used by other low-volume carmakers, notably Tesla Motors, which based its $100,000-plus Roadster electric car on the Lotus chassis.
Detroit Electric said the SP:01 was being introduced "following a five-year development and road-test program."
The Detroit Electric brand had been dormant since 1939. Previously, it was used on a series of electric cars built in Detroit from 1907.
The brand was revived in 2007 as a joint venture between China's Youngman Automotive Group -- which tried unsuccessfully to acquire bankrupt Swedish automaker Saab in 2012 -- and a small California-based electric-car company called Zap.
The venture hired Lotus Engineering in 2007 to provide contract design and technical services. In late 2007, Albert Lam, the chief executive of Lotus Engineering, joined the venture as chairman and was named CEO of Detroit Electric in 2008.
(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

 

[ZestyChicken]

Wow. Way to copy Elon's blueprint...

They are filling the void left when the Roadster was d/c'd.

 

[Jkam]

$135k for an electric Lotus that does 0-60 in 3.7seconds. Sound familiar?

Resurrected Detroit Electric unveils first EV sports car - Hawaii News - Honolulu Star-Advertiser

 

[rolosrevenge]

It claims that the battery can be used as a backup power source for your home. I'd like to see a V2G enabled car. It also has a higher top speed than the Roadster, but given the fact that Tesla sold 2500 in 4 years, I don't see much of a market for this. Maybe three years ago but not now. Tesla started this EV revolution and all of the other startups are dead but Fisker who will soon be dead. I doubt that these guys, starting now with nothing revolutionary at all, will even make a single unit.

 

[Majerus]

The entire premise for Tesla is to promote the growth of electric vehicles. So in this regard it looks like tesla did just that, however Detroit Electric could have been a little more original..