Looks like a 356?
Looks nothing like a 356 to me. Looks a lot like a 550 Spyder. Could explain why they called it the Spyder then? Any chance they've just taken the body moulds from one of the replica kit cars on the market and modified them to suit? Anyway probably not one for Holywood stars to buy then unless they want to emulate James Dean.
16KWh batteries? Therein lies the current (sorry) problem with leccy tech, if you want something sleek and light like the spyder or if you want a bigger car with space for passengers and luggage then you end up with pitiful battery capacity.
Maybe I'm missing something (probably am, I'm no electrician) but wouldn't pulling 190KW from a 16KWh battery drain it in about five minutes. Even at 124mph that doesn't amount to 22 miles, more like 10 miles. Given that the tech can't be 100% efficient I think we can assume that it will be somewhat less than 10 miles. OK it's something of a moot point since you'd have a hard time finding anywhere other than a banked circuit to run at 124mph for five minutes, but presumably the motors would be drawing the same current with your foot flat on the floor whatever speed you were doing?
Leccy city cars are one thing, but sports cars should be driven in a spirited manner and driven with any brio at all the Spyder will manage less than an hour between charges. Yes I know it's a showcase for the technology, but as such it's a total failure. All they have done in highlighted the current shortcomings of battery technology in motoring applications. Battery tech is useful in certain applications, but not sports cars or long distance vehicles. Best that they stick to the applications where batteries will work well, doing so will hopefully speed the development of better batteries which can then be used in other applications. If they keep trying to replace our current cars with short range battery powered vehicles battery vehicles will get a bad name and nobody will want to buy them.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
