The Solectria Sunrise was an innovative
electric passenger car, designed to be as efficient as possible to produce long range from available battery technology.
Created by Solectria Corporation of
Woburn, Massachusetts (since acquired by
Azure Dynamics Corporation), it was never produced beyond several prototypes, although significant effort was made to make the design worthy of mass-production—including crash testing.
The Sunrise is known for having achieved on a single charge, during the 1996 American Tour de Sol competition. A Sunrise was driven from Boston to New York city "on a single battery charge, negotiating everyday traffic and highway speeds up to 65 miles per hour" (104 km/h).
Specifications
*Body
**Composite, monocoque unibody shell
**
Coefficient of Drag (Cd) approximately 0.17
*Dimensions
**length 176" (447 cm)
**width 74" (188 cm)
**height 52" (132 cm)
**
wheelbase 104" (264 cm)
*Weights
**
curb weight without batteries 1433 lb (650 kg)
**
payload
Payload is the object or the entity which is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of ...
682 lb (309 kg)
**
GVWR 2979 lb (1351 kg)
*Drive system
**50 kW Solectria
AC induction motor
An induction motor or asynchronous motor is an AC electric motor in which the electric current in the rotor needed to produce torque is obtained by electromagnetic induction from the magnetic field of the stator winding. An induction mot ...
,
inverter, driving front wheels via
Geo Metro transaxle
*Batteries
**24
GM/
Ovonic
Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) was an American photovoltaics manufacturer of thin-film solar cells made of amorphous silicon used in flexible laminates and in building-integrated photovoltaics. The company was also a manufacturer of recharge ...
Nickel metal hydride battery, 12v 90
Ah
*Suspension
**front: 1994
Geo Metro MacPherson strut
**rear: 1994
Dodge Neon MacPherson strut
**coil
springs with
airbag
An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system using a bag designed to inflate extremely quickly, then quickly deflate during a collision. It consists of the airbag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, an inflation module, and an impact sensor. Th ...
s
**manual
Rack and pinion
A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a circular gear (the '' pinion'') engaging a linear gear (the ''rack''). Together, they convert rotational motion into linear motion. Rotating the pinion causes the rack to be driven ...
steering
*Brakes
**manual,
Geo Metro front disk,
Dodge Neon drum rear
**
regenerative braking
*
Tires
**13"
Geo Metro tires
*Performance
**0–30 mph: 6 seconds
**0–60 mph: 17 seconds
**range,
Nickel metal hydride battery: 400 miles (643 km) at 30 mph (48 km/h), 200 miles (321 km)at 60 mph (96 km/h).
Kit version
In 2005, a single prototype as well as the moulds necessary to produce the composite chassis and body were sold and now belong to a hobbyist-led project to produce a similar vehicle as kits, to be known as the
Sunrise EV2
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects.
Terminology
Al ...
.
''See Sunrise-ev.com''
See also
*
Battery Electric Vehicles
A battery electric vehicle (BEV), pure electric vehicle, only-electric vehicle, fully electric vehicle or all-electric vehicle is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that exclusively uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs, wi ...
*
Solectria Force, a "conversion" vehicle from the same company.
*
Aptera Motors, whose Typ-1 uses a drivetrain made by Azure Dynamics.
References
External links
MIT Technology Review article from 1998Azure Dynamics website (Solectria merged into this company in 2005); now in partnership with Electro Autos EficacesWeb page for one of the original vehicles
{{Azure Dynamics
Electric cars
Production electric cars
Electric car models