The Lightning Car Company took the wraps off its vision of a British GT of the future at the British Motor Show. The company's new Lightning is an electric car with the equivalent of around 700bhp and orders are being taken for 2010 cars.
Managing director Chris Dell says that the car will be a viable alternative to a petrol sports car in two years and promises it will make it into production.
So how can an electric car be a grand tourer? The answer is in the NanoSafe battery pack which needs to only be charged for 10 minutes for around 200 miles of motoring, says Dell.
The company also says that driving a Lighting will result in £20,000+ savings on annual running costs against the equivalent petrol sports car. A bold claim and we shall have to see.
Thanks to huge torque from zero rpm the car will accelerate from 0-60mph in four seconds. There is an electric motor in each wheel as well as regenerative braking capacity.The body is made from a carbon fibre/kevlar composite and the car rides on 20" wheels.
The car will come with software that will allow the driver to make it sound like a petrol engined vehicle. At the touch of a button you can switch between the sound of a V6 or a V12.