Gordon Murray Design Releases Specs For New T.27 EV

By Viknesh Vijayenthiran

Viknesh Vijayenthiran

Editor BIO

Vik is an Editor at High Gear Media and contributor for a number of sites within the High Gear Media network. He was a co-founder of... More

LATEST ARTICLE
Jay Leno Drives The Focus Electric And Fusion Plug-In Hybrid
The online series Jay Leno’s Garage usually plays host to exotic supercars and brawny muscle... Read More

• #1LEADERBOARD RANK
• 7380ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED
• 82COMMENTS POSTED

2,105 views May 31, 2010

Follow Viknesh

Add to circle

Gordon Murray Design T.27 EV

Gordon Murray is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant minds in automotive design today, having been the driving force behind both the McLaren F1 supercar and more recently the Caparo T1. His latest T.25 minicar project is bustling along, having made strides recently with the announcement the car is officially on sale and on track for a 2012 European release.

Now, Murray, and his design firm, Gordon Murray Design (GMD), have released details about a new all-electric version of the T.25 dubbed the T.27. Working closely with powertrain partner Zytek Automotive, GMD plans to unveil a working prototype of the T.27 in April of next year.

Like the T.25, the new T.27 will feature a rear-drive chassis but with an electric motor driving the rear axle instead of a three-cylinder gasoline unit as found in the T.25. Peak output will be just 34 horsepower but this should be enough to send the little urban runabout to a top speed of 65 mph. The 0-60 mph sprint is expected to take less than 15 seconds but remember that the T.27 is designed for hopping around busy city centers, not the open highway. The driving range on a single charge of the vehicle’s lithium-ion battery should be about 80-100 miles.

A new level of efficiency in cost, weight and performance should come from the vehicle’s ‘clean sheet of paper’ approach, as well as from the full integration of the powertrain and also from the low energy manufacturing system developed by Gordon Murray Design in a process called iStream.

iStream significantly reduces the capital investment required to produce a vehicle and also the energy required for manufacture. Additionally, the flexibility of the iStream process will allow the gasoline powered T.25 and the all-electric T.27 to be manufactured at the same plant.

The next phase of the project is to secure funding and partners to establish a manufacturing base for the new range of GMD minicars.

[Gordon Murray Design]