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This is the Delta Motorsport E-4 Coupe, the only all-British company and the only European contender in the Progressive Automotive X-PRIZE competition to find the most environmentally friendly car on the planet.
The Automotive X-PRIZE competition has a $10m prize fund courtesy of American car insurance company, Progressive Insurance. Electric cars, such as the E-4 Coupe entered by Delta Motorsport, must be capable of 200 miles between charges and there will be tests of braking distances and usability. Crucially, the winning vehicle should be ready to be mass-produced.
The performance of the zero emission four-seater E-4 Coupe road car matches that of conventional cars, with acceleration from zero to 60mph in under five seconds (comparable to a Porsche 911 Turbo) and a maximum speed well in excess of 100mph.
The first example will be completed in April and has been made possible by support from the East Midlands Development Agency with a grant for research and development of £235,000. The car will be unveiled to the UK media in May.
None of the new generation of energy-efficient cars from major car manufacturers – such as the Renault ZE or Nissan Leaf – will meet the criteria of the X-Prize competition; and none of the original 41 teams and businesses entered are multi-nationals.
Delta Motorsport will take the E-4 Coupe from CAD screen to production in just 3 months. The design judging rounds of the X-prize competition have taken place and the Delta Motorsport E-4 Coupe is one of the 28 entries which will take part in the safety inspections and dynamic evaluations at Michigan International Speedway at the end of April.
Further X-Prize events will follow through the summer with entries being eliminated at each stage. The winners will be announced in September on the lawn of The White House, Washington D.C.
Delta Motorsport , based on the Silverstone Circuit Technology Park in Northamptonshire, has considerable experience in high technology engineering, motorsport and clean technology projects and says that the design of environmentally-friendly vehicles share many of the engineering challenges associated with motorsport, including maximum efficiency, light weight, and good aerodynamics.
