DeLorean goes electric for 2013 roll-out

Great Scott! Doc Brown's DeLorean has jumped back to the future production line and will roll out across roads from 2013. The Delorean Motor Company of Texas - which previously has focused on selling the car secondhand, and providing servicing and spares - is to produce an all-electric version of the famous gull-wing door …

[Anomalous Cowturd]

260hp, 125MPH.

That's shit, that is!

My two ton Volvo goes faster than that...

Allegedly. ;o)

[Boothy]

Electric cars have limiters fitted, as the bottle neck is usually how much juice you can get out of the batteries without damaging them.

So top speed is based on the Max Power output of the battery pack, rather than what the motor could actually achieve.

[MrT]

It's better than...

... the original - IIRC that topped out at 110mph. Renault V6 couldn't shift the (relatively) heavy body - it might look a bit like an Esprit, what with Giugiaro designing both, but the Chapman 'add lightness' didn't translate.

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

But will it do time travel?

Or can it not hit 88 mph?

[CmdrX3]

Sadly, no. As stated in the article the flux capacitor is not included. Maybe they will release it as an optional extra at some point in the future ;-)

[Marvin the Martian]

Speaking of time travel,

It's like being back in 2000 when people thought it a good idea to get a built-in GPS.

I remember my sister around 2003 spending about 1000quid on one that was hilariously outdated after 2y or so, low res/ stupid+slow/ monocolour/ limited. And the maps didn't really update themselves either.

[Ian Stephenson]

Rather poor

For 260 bhp I would expect something a little faster than 125mph, maybe around 160.

It must weigh in at several tonnes.

Given it's also American built the handling will be appalling.

To quote the great DNA "Looks like a fish, moves like a fish, steers like a cow."

[Silverburn]

Fixed it for you...

Given it's also American built the handling will be appalling, the ride will be dreadful (especially with a ton of batteries onboard), it will be heavy enough to generate it's own gravity, it will look hideous and will rattle to pieces before 10,000 miles.

[Cazzo Enorme]

"will rattle to pieces before 10,000 miles"

Well before 10,000 miles based on my experience of a Ford Mustang. Picked the thing up from the car hire car with a couple of hundred miles on the clock. Three months later I dropped it back, by which time the suspension was knackered. I can hardly say I had thrashed the thing, as I only used it to commute to work within Santa Clara (straight roads on a grid plan). Probably a good thing it was such straight roads, as the handling was appalling.

[richard 7]

Its all academic

About once avery 3 years we get all this roumour about a 'New DeLorean' and nothing ever happens. DMC2 kicked about for years and nothing happened, the re-release of the DMC12 is yet to happen....

And if they havent changed the geometry/setup from the DMC12 it'll be bloody awful to drive. Wanted one for years, got one, and it handles/performs like an old Routemaster bus and is a pig to keep clean. As for 88.8mph HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Unless the other issues are sorted not ta (For reference other issues include every major part bar the steering wheel, thats been OK so far....)

[ybird]

still wouldn't persuade me to get an iphone

[Mike Sullivan]

This is heavy !

I have no idea why, as the original was not known for being a good car... but I really want one.

[Silverburn]

Ergonomics...

...don't try to adjust your heater controls while your iphone in plugged in. Lets hope they revisit that before 2013.

I can understand the slowness; 260bhp combined with a reasonable electric range (which is not in the article btw) = massive, heavy battery.

[Evil Auditor]

No, they won't. But you can download the free Heater Control App!

[slyos]

How fun is that a time machine running electricaly. is GPS very usefull for such travel ?

Posted from a Virtual Private Desktop "VPU"

[Captain Scarlet]

Of course

If you are traveling back and forward by a few years, otherwise slap a compass on the screen

[John70]

Electric Power

Is it powered by Mr. Fusion?

[Rob Beard]

Coming 2015

I hear the Mr Fusion upgrade is scheduled in for some time in 2015 along with the hover conversion :-)

Rob

[stucs201]

We must be on the wrong time-line.

According to the doc, in film 3, Mr Fusion was only for the time circuits, the car itself always ran on 'gasoline'. An electric version would imply we're heading for the wrong 2015, bet our version doesn't even have flying cars:-(.

[Bo Pedersen]

Shut up and take my money!

stop being so pre-disposed with speed, weight and cost, its a Leccy DeLorean!!! how is that EVER a problem?

Now add a Mr Fusion and it will be perfect.

[Christoph]

Still with gull-wing doors?

Does this mean that they still have not fixed - in fact they have deliberately retained - the major problem with the design?

How do you get in and out of the car when it is in a car-park with other cars close alongside, making it impossible to fully open those doors?

[Yag]

This is also one of the main signature of the design...

[mark 63]

@Christoph , re gullwings

They have actually retained a very innovative safety feature which does the opposite of what you suggest . The car John Delorean copied from (which looked pretty much the same) was tagged the "worlds safest car". It even came in colourslabelled 'safety green' , ' safety red' etc

The gullwing doors were put there explicitly to make opening the doors easier when in close proximity to something else (e.g in a crash) Those doors extend from the car only 6 inches on their way up, whereas if you open a normal car door six inches you couldnt get a sheet of paper out , never mind a person!

probly dont work too well if its on its roof though :)

[Michael H.F. Wilkinson]

"... whereas if you open a normal car door six inches you couldnt get a sheet of paper out , never mind a person!"

Certainly not certain American persons

[Paul Westerman]

the Bricklin SV-1

is, I suspect, the car you're referring to. It's gull wings open and close themselves!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bricklin_SV-1

[Peter Ford]

Explosive bolts

The Mercedes solution to the problem of how to open the doors when it's on its roof...

[David Robinson 1]

If you watch this video (1:00 in) you can see how much clearance is required for the doors to open:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8bP2njGfpY

[Wize]

Can we have a dock for other MP3 players too?

I refuse to buy anything with an iPhone dock, but I don't see there being a problem here.

That thing will be an oven on hot days unless they have sorted the window problem.

[WonkoTheSane]

Agreed re fruit-connector

Just go with a standard USB socket, like my Vauxhall.

Aircon will suck the batteries dry, but we'd only need it 3 days a year!

TL;DR = WANT!

(Mines the one with the Palestinian Plutonium in the pocket)

[Joe Carter]

Top speed

Electric cars tend to have a relatively low top speed for their power as they're normally single geared. The motors can rev up to 16k rpm but the torque drops off after 7k.

http://www.teslamotors.com/models/features#/performance

So they have awesome acceleration but the top end drops off. For real road use it's a non-issue.

[Rameses Niblick the Third (KKWWMT)]

I simply don't care

The doors are a major design flaw, the windows don't open enough, its heavy, handles badly and is chronically expensive.

And you know what? I don't care, I just want one!

[chr0m4t1c]

Truly it is the iPhone of cars.

[ShadowTD]

So much fail in these comments!

Firstly, the chassis for the production DMC-12 owes more to the Lotus Esprit of the time, given it was design by Lotus. The DeLorean has always been quite a reasonable handler for a rear-wheel drive chassis of that era. Secondly, the gull wing doors open in significantly *less* space than a standard door. Look at where they're hinged - not at the edge of the roofline but practically in the middle.

The top speed is probably limited due to stability issues over that speed. You know, for safety.

Any other morons want to chime in?

[Captain Scarlet]

hmm

So what your saying is buy a Lotus?

Good idea

[Giddy Kipper]

@ShadowTD

Nice first post, I'm sure all the 'morons' here appreciated it.

[Captain TickTock]

More than 1.21 Gigawatts for a real car???

I know american cars trade muscle for refinement, but isn't that a little OTT, even for them?

[Flocke Kroes]

<220kW

There are plenty of definitions of horse power, but for a car motor, 260hp is probably a little over 190kW. Electric motors that size are usually 90-95% efficient so with 1.21GW, you can power well over 5000 DeLoreans.

The first GPS satellite was launched in 1978, so GPS would be useless before that. Until 1989, there were only ten satellites. You need to be able to see 3 satelites to do anything useful (4 if you want to know your altitude). If you need GPS in the 1980's, get a hover conversion. You stand a better chance of seeing satelites if the signals do not have to go sideways through a thick atmosphere, some hills, buildings or a wet leaf.

[Charlie van Becelaere]

This is not an American Car

This is to be built in the Republic of Texas - a whole nother country, as their tourism adverts recently had it.

Paris, because I'm hoping the plant will be in Paris, Texas.