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Electric vehicles are fast becoming a practical alternative for regular petrol and diesel-powered cars. However, there has never been a feasible substitute for two-seater sports cars. Sure, there was the brilliant Tesla roadster until 2012 which was based on the Lotus Elise. But since then there hasn’t really been a two-seater electric sports car, until now.
Picking up where the Tesla Roadster left off, the new SP:01 aims to take the game forward in the all-electric sports car category. Designed and developed by Detroit Electric, the new SP:01 is about to go in to production, more than a year after it was first shown as a prototype vehicle at the 2013 Shanghai Motor Show.
Like the Tesla Roadster, the SP:01 is also built around the same aluminium chassis of the Lotus Elise but with carbon fibre bodywork. Set to be made in extremely limited numbers, it will be the world’s fastest production electric sports car when it goes on sale in Asia, Europe and North America, starting in 2015.
Since the first official reveal at the Shanghai Motor Show in 2013, the design has been subtly updated to further improve the vehicle’s aerodynamic performance, ahead of the production run in the UK later this year. Propulsion is courtesy a high-power electric motor which can propel the car to a top speed of 249 kmph. What’s even more impressive is the 0-100kmph time of just 3.7 seconds. So if you fancy an incredibly fast sports car that is also fairly environmentally friendly, the new SP:01 is worth a look.
