EV Sets 0-100 kph Record of 1.5 Seconds

A team of Swiss engineering students this week recaptured the zero-to-100 kph (0-62 mph) speed record with a time of 1.513 seconds with the group’s purpose-built electric vehicle. It took less than 100 ft to achieve the mark, which was set on a track at the Dubendorf air base near Zurich.

The car, dubbed the Grimsel, set a then-record of 1.785 seconds in February 2015. But that time was bested last summer by students from the University of Stuttgart with their own EV, which zipped to 100 kph in 1.779 seconds.

By comparison, the fastest production vehicle, the Porsche 918 Spyder hybrid, takes 2.2 seconds to hit the same speed. The 1,480-hp Bugatti Chiron, which has a top speed of 430 kph (267 mph), takes 2.5 seconds to reach 100 kph.

The Grimsel was built in 2014 by students from Switzerland's ETH Zurich and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts as part of SAE International’s Formula Student competition. The team says it made several unspecified refinements to the vehicle in the last year.

Featuring a carbon fiber construction, the tiny vehicle weighs just 370 lbs. It’s powered by four wheel hub motors that generate a combined 1,254 lb-ft of torque. A sophisticated traction control system adjusts the output at each wheel to maximize acceleration. Other features include huge front and rear wings.

Watch a video of the record-setting run here.