Electric vehicles sound great in theory, but talk to someone about buying one and the same concern inevitably rears its head: they’re so slow… It’s a response that’s as predictable as knowing that the creepy guy at the grocery store is going to find a way to stand way, way too close to you in the check-out line. One clean tech startup is looking to change that (the speed of electric vehicles, not the creepy guy at the grocery store, although that would be nice too). Wrightspeed, based out of San Jose, California, has developed the world’s fastest street-legal electric vehicle, and the company announced Thursday afternoon the close of a $5 million Series A round led by a private investor.
The funding will be used to develop Wrightspeed’s Digital DriveSystem, an extended range hybrid electric drive system aimed at vehicles known colloquially as gas guzzlers. These might be vehicles that drive long distances, medium-duty trucks, family cars, delivery vans, or high-performance sports cars. Wrightspeed is so confident in its technology that the company boldly claims that with the amount of money saved on gas, the vehicle will ultimately pay for itself within three years.
“Our technology will displace at least 3,000 gallons of fuel per year per high-usage vehicle,” said Wrightspeed founder and CEO, Ian Wright, in the company’s announcement.
The announcement comes on the heels of the 2011 Fuel Economy Guide, released November 3 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE), which, for the first time, will include medium-duty passenger vehicles, such as large sport utility vehicles and passenger vans. Previously, SUVs and passenger vans were not subject to fuel economy measurement and labeling requirements.
“Wrightspeed’s technology provides significant improvements in fuel savings and therefore in payback time for fleet operators,” said David Welch, Ph.D., co-founder, executive VP, and Chief Strategy Officer of Infinera, in a prepared statement. Along with the Series A funding, Wrightspeed also announced that David Welch will be joining the company’s board of directors.
Wrightspeed is known for having developed the world’s fastest electric vehicle, the X1 prototype, which goes from 0-60 in 2.9 seconds and has an energy equivalent to 170 mpg. The company, however, insists that the X1 prototype is only a concept car and will never be mass manufactured. Rather, it was designed to prove that electric vehicles can deliver extreme performance without sacrificing fuel efficiency.
Founded in 2005, Wrightspeed was the brainchild of Ian Wright, co-founder of Tesla, who helped raise capital for and build the first prototype, the Tesla Roadster. He left Tesla and created Wrightspeed in January 2005 to design and manufacture advanced technology electric drive systems for high fuel consumption vehicles.
The company could not be reached for comment.
Image source: wrightspeed.com
