Sept. 27, 2006 — A collaboration of alternative energy companies announced that they are demonstrating an electric SUV at the California Air Resources Board Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Technology Symposium, being held September 25 to 27 in Sacramento, Calif.
The full-size electric SUV is being road demonstrated by Altair Nanotechnologies Inc., along with its partners Boshart Engineering and Phoenix Motorcars.
The vehicle incorporates a 100 kW UQM electric drive system that result in high torque (over 400 ft-lbs), wide constant power speed range (up to 5000 RPM top speed), and an optimized system efficiency of over 94%. Altair develops nanoscale materials for batteries in cars and other applications.
The demonstration electric SUV is an early model of the commercially available vehicle, targeted for volume delivery in Spring 2007. The companies say the vehicle is planned to be capable of road speeds up to 95 mph, a driving range that is configurable up to 200 miles, a battery recharge time potential of less than 10 minutes, and an acceleration of 0 to 60 mph in less than 10 seconds.