This is seriously one small car weighing only 680KG or 1500lbs. Created in only 17 months, the T.27 is an exercise in re-imagining how cars are manufactured. It's manufacture process is called iStream, yes the name sucks, but could make this car incredibly affordable.
Gordon Murray has always been obsessed with weight, the McLaren F1 was a scant 2500 lbs and carried a V-12 engine with a gold lined engine bay. This light weight philosophy has carried over onto this car as weight is the enemy of efficiency and fun.
The T.27 is a RWD car powered by a 25Kw motor and electrons are supplied by a Lithium Ion power cell. Top speed is an acceptable 105kph and can be reached in about 15 seconds. So it's slower than almost anything on the road, but it is also very safe according to GMD. They also claim it to be more efficient per kilometer compared to it's main competitors the Smart EV by 29%, the iMiEV by 36%, and Mini-E by 86%. They didn't mention the Leaf, but it'd probably be somewhere around the iMiEV's numbers at 40% give or take a few percentile.
The T.27 can be charged to full capacity in round about 4 hours on a 240V charger, probably double that to 8 hours if charged at 120V. The EV is able to travel around 160kms on a single charge and can be more if ECE15 is utilized, what ECE15 is, I couldn't tell you. But the specs mention that the range jumps to 130miles if it is factored in, perhaps it's a larger cell?
It seats 3 occupants, the driver is centre seated up front and the other two seats are located in the rear. In cartoonish fashion it rides on 13" wheels which makes the car somewhat misshapen when viewed in silhouette.
GMD is currently trying to sell the idea of the T.27 to 3 different manufacturers and the car will make it's public unveiling at RAC Future Car Challenge on Nov 5th 2011.
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