Delft students break world record with their electric car

This weekend, a proud team from TU Delft set a new world record with their electric car.

Teamwork

The record was set at a former airfield in Valkenburg, where the student team were keen to show off their electric car. 

Their model broke an official world record after accelerating from zero to 100 km/h in 2,15 seconds. The previous record stood at 2,68 seconds.

Team manager Tim de Moree stated that, "under these condition we’d be happy with 2,30, but we really didn’t expect 2,15."

The driver who set the record, 24 year-old Marly Kuijpers, was similarly thrilled by the experience: "It feels like a roller coaster, that part when you just drop over the edge."

Smart design

The racing car which the team used is called the DUT12, and was built entirely by the students in 2012. The compact four-by-four model is extremely light, weighing in at a mere 145kg. The group also changed their driver after calculating which member of the team weighed less.

One member of the team, Gihin Mok, explained that, "we made the car a little lighter where possible - but the major difference lies in the electric motors... We used the maximum power. That totals 135 horsepower." This translates to almost one horsepower for every kilogram of the car.

The DUT12 had previously won at the (unofficial) World Championship at Hockenheim.

Cover photo courtesy of TUD