Click image for a hi-res gallery of the Lightning GT

We were starting to worry. It has been 9 months since we first heard about the all electric Lightning GT sports car from England. At the time there were photographs of a sleek blue sports car with lines and curves revealing an unmistakably British pedigree. There was talk of the incorporation of the latest technological breakthroughs from both Altairnano and PML Flightlink. There was boasting of Tesla Roadster-like performance and whispers of a Ferrari-like price tag.

Since then, nothing. Had it been a figment of our collective imagination? Had they shuffled off this mortal coil or were they merely just pining for the fjords? Unlike other companies in the process of developing electric cars, there have not been company blogs keeping everyone up to date on the latest technological development or thoughts and musings of its founders and monied investors. No daily avalanche of press releases, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. There hasn't even been so much as a drizzle of debate on internet forums as to whether the company is legit or its product is vaporware. There has only been a kind of unsettling silence that has kept me repeatedly scurrying back to their website or doing the occasional Google news search for any signs of recent respiratory activity. That is, until now.

Now, not only is there a press release to confirm that The Lightning Car Company still lives but there are new photographs pictures revealing that the car has undergone a modernizing redesign. Have the in-wheel motors survived the redesign? How about the Nanosafe battery? Hit the jump to find out.



[Source: The Lightning Car Company via EV World]

Recently, I wrote a post that talked about Volvo's statement that they were working exclusively with PML (a company that makes in-wheel electric motors). I found this concerning because I thought PML was working with Zap on the Zap-X, a Lotus-designed, affordable, normal-looking electric car. I contacted Zap Communication's Alex Campbell, who checked with Zap's CEO Steve Schneider about Volvo's statements. Zap says they are in a relationship with PML but only on three-wheeled vehicles. As for four-wheeled cars, Zap tried but it looks like PML went with Volvo. Zap has moved on to a Chinese company that they say is not only cheaper than PML but can provide in-wheel electric motors sooner. So there is no confusion, here is exactly what Zap says:

We signed an exclusive agreement with PML on 3-wheelers and at the time were negotiating with them on other vehicles. We have since partnered up with a company in China with rights to their wheel hub motors. The significance is that the wheel hub motor that we have acquired is currently working in application and we believe will be commercially available within a shorter period of time than PML's. It is my understanding that the PML motor has still yet to work in any automotive application. And they are expensive so it would need to be manufactured in China to stay competitive.

[Source: Alex Campbell from Zap]

In an interview, Ichiro Sugioka, project leader of Volvo's Recharge electric car concept, says PML FlightLink is "currently working exclusively for us." If that was not clear enough, Ichiro adds "all their efforts is going into our projects." The interviewer presses for more information, even mentioning PML's relationship with Lotus, but Ichiro is very clear. You can see this exchange three minutes into the video below the fold.

Why is this notable? Green car fans will recall the PML's in-wheel motors were going to be a key part of the Zap-X. I guess we should have noticed the relationship was probably over because Zap said it had some exclusive rights with PML and then PML started to work with Volvo. Companies don't write press release saying relationships have fallen apart. So, what does this mean for the release date for the Zap-X, the Lotus-designed, affordable, electric car?

Zap never made an exact release date for the Zap-X public, so it's hard to say the date has slipped. I would assume the internal date must have slipped a little bit. While Zap makes great products, they are probably one of the more out-sourced electric vehicle companies. I always imagined Zap, Miles or Tesla would be bought out sooner or later by a large automaker trying to catch up.

This little soap opera makes me think the top automakers just might bypass the middle man and work with the smaller technology companies instead.

Related:

• Volvo could develop a robot that plugs in your car
• Frankfurt Preview: Volvo ReCharge - The Swedes go series hybrid
• Zap! does deal for wheel motors
• Video: 900 miles without a fill up

[Source: Google Video]

We have written about PML FlightLink's mini before. The news report in the video above has a few more details and a look under the hood, so we thought we would give you a look. The mini has four in-wheel motors and a battery under the hood. It also has a gas engine in the back that recharges the battery. This gives the car a 900 mile range. Zap liked that so much they ordered $10 M's worth for the Zap-X.

A few facts from the video. The battery is lithium. The gas engine in the back is smaller than a motorbike engine. It has regenerative braking. Learning computers, based on neural networks, control the motors and make 4,000 calculations a second. The car hits the test track this Summer. Chris Newman of PML claims a fourth of cars will be electric drive in five years.

He says every car company has looked at this and found it to the best model for cars. GM is developing the Volt which has a very similar set up. Even Toyota may follow suit, showing off a plug-in model recently. Is a serial Toyota hybrid far behind? Is the series hybrid the car of the future? Hard to argue with a 900-mile range. The series hybrid's time may have come.

[Source: YouTube]

Justin over at Treehugger.com recently wrote about a standard Mini One which was converted into a stunning gas-electric hybrid by the British engineering firm PML. Instead of implementing a complex, parallel drivetrain system that splits power between electricity and gas, this little rocket's wheels are only driven off it's electric motors. There's one in each wheel. The small internal combustion engine only comes to life when the batteries need recharging. Since it's a plug-in hybrid, that shouldn't happen all that often.

The benefits that PML claims their in-wheel drive technology has are as follows:

• It's adaptable to other chassis
• It eliminates the need for gearing and a mechanical drivetrain
• It allows more space inside the car

It's hard to argue when they claim a 0-60 time of 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 150 mph. Each of the electric motors is rated at 160 bhp, hence the 640 horsepower total. Oh, and the range is phenomenal. It can go 200-250 miles on the battery and capacitor combination alone while the inclusion of the combustion engine adds 700 or so miles to your trip yielding a gas mileage of up to 80 mpg.

But aren't hub motors bad? It seems as though every automotive engineer would tell you that overall weight reduction is important, but reducing unsprung weight is paramount in a high performance car. For those of you unfamiliar with the technical sections in the back of your favorite car magazines, unsprung weight is comprised from the parts of your car that aren't supported by the suspension (wheels, tires, the suspension itself and the parts directly bolted to them). It's quite simply a high-performance faux pas. Given the circumstances, I think I could overlook it just this once.

[Source: Treehugger]