Researchers at Keio University in Japan have built an eight-wheeled electric vehicle that can go 230 mph. It looks weird, kind of like the crazed cat-bus in “My Neighbor Totoro,” for all you anime fans, but it can do 0-60 mph in 4.1 seconds — as fast as a new Lotus Exige sports car. The Ellica, as the car is called, has an 80-hp electric motor in each wheel rather than one central motor.
What will Keio University do with all this electric power? Turn it into a public transportation project, of course. According to Popular Science, the school has signed a deal with Isuzu Motors and the local government to build a bus using the Ellica’s technology to shuttle passengers up to almost 100 miles per charge. The bus will likely be produced in 2011.
Tags: electric vehicles, Ellica, Japan, public transporation
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