Delta Motorsport unveils EV sports car prototype

(Delta Motorsports)

For several years now, the only real option for sports car lovers who wanted to go electric was the Tesla Roadster - a Lotus Elise-based EV with a top speed of over 200km/h and a range of nealr 400 km.

But this week, a British engineering company unveiled a new prototype which one day could present a real challenge, the Delta E-4 Coupé.

Boasting a carbon composite chassis, the two-door vehicle can reach 60 mph (97 km/h) in less than five seconds, thanks to its lightweight frame which weighs just 85 kg - the whole vehicle weighs an impressively low 975 kg.

Using direct-drive electric engines developed by scientists at Oxford University, the car can reach 150 mph, although the impressiveness of this is arguably overshadowed by the E-4 Coupés range, which is approaching that of the California-designed Tesla Roadster at 200 miles (322 km).

Unfortunately, only five of the vehicles have been produced so far, for testing and analysis as the company behind them tries to raise enough money to take the car into production.

It's one of a long line of all-electric prototypes which demonstrate just how alluring an electric sports car can be - at January's North American International Auto Show, Li-Ion displayed the $139,000 INIZIO, another vehicle it hopes could take on the Californian brand.

Fisker, which has been struggling for years to get its luxury plug-in hybrid sports car into production, could beat most other contenders to the market - first deliveries of its production model are set to begin imminently.

http://www.delta-motorsport.com/