THE BEST OF GENEVA ‘17

With electric cars stealing the limelight, we take a look at the most interesting cars showcased at the Geneva Motor Show this year

‘IN SOME WAYS IT IS A little easier to make a new supercar today with electric technology. What is challenging from an engineering perspective is putting the average user in mind – who’ll get in, start up and drive at whatever speed for as long as they want to drive. That’s the challenge: range versus weight. Developing an electric vehicle is more straightforward, though, without spending tens of millions developing an engine.’

Ian Cluett is head of programmes at Williams Advanced Engineering, the team behind one of this year’s

Geneva stars, the The new Singaporean supercar was one of several at Geneva that used electricity rather than combustion for propulsion, but surprisingly Cluett had never before considered our question: is developing an electric supercar easier than developing a conventionally powered one?

Given the glut of electric supercars to have debuted over the past 12 months, each boasting a 0-100kmph time beginning with a 2 and asphaltrippling torque figures, it’s not hard to imagine we’ll see an increasing

Vanda

motor

show

Dendrobium.

number of electric rather than petrolpowered performance cars in the coming years. And it’s not so much an environmental imperative as it is down to the physics of electric propulsion: so prohibitively expensive is the process of developing and typeapproving a conventional powerplant with Chiron-troubling performance, electric power seems increasingly attractive. Producing an electric car with more power and more torque boils down to incorporating bigger electric motors and managing the temperature of the batteries .

Projected performance figures for the Dendrobium are predictably impressive: a top speed of over 320kmph and a 0-100kmph time of 2.7 seconds. Power and torque figures aren’t yet quoted, mainly because Vanda and Williams haven’t yet finalised the specification. The prototype shown at Geneva uses a single, rear-mounted motor, but the production car will have another powering the front wheels. A range isn’t quoted, either: by the time the Dendrobium reaches production, Williams expects battery technology to have moved on further, rendering any current guesses moot. Cluett

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