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 Woburn ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,876 at the 2020 census. Woburn is located north of Boston. Woburn uses Massachusetts' mayor-council form of government, in which an elected mayor is ...

(since acquired by

Azure Dynamics Corporation Azure Dynamics Corporation is incorporated under the laws of Alberta, Canada having been spun out of BC Research Inc. Azure now is headquartered in Oak Park, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The company's principal business is in the development a ...

), 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 In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient (commonly denoted as: c_\mathrm, c_x or c_) is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as air or water. It is used in the drag e ...

(Cd) approximately 0.17 *Dimensions **length 176" (447 cm) **width 74" (188 cm) **height 52" (132 cm) **

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

104" (264 cm) *Weights **

curb weight Vehicle weight is a measurement of wheeled motor vehicles; either an actual measured weight of the vehicle under defined conditions or a gross weight rating for its weight carrying capacity. Curb or kerb weight Curb weight (U.S. English) or kerb ...

without batteries 1433 lb (650 kg) ** payload 682 lb (309 kg) **

GVWR Vehicle weight is a measurement of wheeled motor vehicles; either an actual measured weight of the vehicle under defined conditions or a gross weight rating for its weight carrying capacity. Curb or kerb weight Curb weight (U.S. English) or kerb ...

2979 lb (1351 kg) *Drive system **50 kW Solectria AC induction motor,

inverter A power inverter, inverter or invertor is a power electronic device or circuitry that changes direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). The resulting AC frequency obtained depends on the particular device employed. Inverters do the opp ...

, driving front wheels via

Geo Metro The Geo Metro is a marketing and manufacturing variation of the Suzuki Cultus available in North America from 1989 through 2001 as a joint effort of General Motors (GM) and Suzuki. In the US, the Metro carried a Geo nameplate from 1989 through ...

transaxle A transaxle is a single mechanical device which combines the functions of an automobile's transmission, axle, and differential into one integrated assembly. It can be produced in both manual and automatic versions. Engine and drive at the s ...

*Batteries **24 GM/ Ovonic

Nickel metal hydride battery Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...

, 12v 90 Ah *Suspension **front: 1994

MacPherson strut The MacPherson strut is a type of automotive suspension system that uses the top of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot. It is widely used in the front suspension of modern vehicles, and is named for American automotive engineer Ear ...

**rear: 1994

Dodge Neon Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above Ply ...

**coil

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season) Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...

s with airbags **manual Rack and pinion steering *Brakes **manual,

front disk,

drum rear **

regenerative braking Regenerative braking is an energy recovery mechanism that slows down a moving vehicle or object by converting its kinetic energy into a form that can be either used immediately or stored until needed. In this mechanism, the electric traction mo ...

Tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...

s **13"

tires *Performance **0–30 mph: 6 seconds **0–60 mph: 17 seconds **range,

: 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.
''See Sunrise-ev.com''

References

External links

MIT Technology Review article from 1998

Azure Dynamics website (Solectria merged into this company in 2005); now in partnership with Electro Autos Eficaces

Web page for one of the original vehicles

{{Azure Dynamics Electric cars Production electric cars Electric car models

Specifications

Kit version

See also

References

External links