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Toyota Enters Electric Car Into Pikes Peak Hill Climb

 
1,562 views Jun 8, 2012
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This year’s annual Pikes Peak hill climb is shaping up to be something pretty spectacular for electric vehicle fans. 

After last year’s race, which saw the all-electric Yokohama HER-02 set a new course with a time of 12 minutes and 20 seconds, we’ve seen official entries already tendered for 2012 from Mitsubishi, Monster Tajima and independents EVWest.

Now Toyota has announced it too will enter an electric car into the iconic race as part of a joint project with Japanese company RK1, Inc. 


Meet TMG EV P002, the identical twin of the Toyota PV001 EV electric racing car which set a new lap record at the Nürburgring in Germany earlier this year. 

Based on Toyota-owned Radical race car, the TMG EV P002 is fitted with two axial flux motors capable of producing 350 kilowatts of power and an impressive 663 pound feed of torque. It will be driven in the 12-mile long hill climb by Japanese rally champion Fumio Nutahara.

With one month to the day left before the event, there’s still time for other competitors to announce their intention to race. 

But with every automaker keen to enter an electric car, we have to admit to being a little happy. 

Electric cars are finally grabbing the attention of the motorsport world. 

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Comments (11)

  1. Yanquetino avatar Mark Larsen Posted: 6/8/2012 9:56am PDT

    Wowza. I'd love to shoehorn myself into the driver's seat. Adrenaline rush!

    BTW, is that an electrical discharge I see under the racer at 1:20 in the video? Yow.

    [Harrumph. My first post was "disabled by the moderators." I am guessing because I had originally called the driver's seat a c***pit...? Pfffft.]
     
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  2. ev_enthusiast avatar EV Enthusiast Posted: 6/8/2012 10:14am PDT

    who cares ? i will get excited when toyota starts making evs for the public.
     
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  3. CDspeed avatar CDspeed . Posted: 6/9/2012 7:20am PDT

    Think of this as an advertisement for the electric future, if people continue to only see the electric car as a slow low range ecobox they will loose interest. But if they see electric cars entering into motorsports and see that they can be just as good if not better then ice cars, then people will gain interest. Seeing EVs hold their own in a race is good for building a positive image, it shows capability.
     
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  4. ev_enthusiast avatar EV Enthusiast Posted: 6/9/2012 6:19pm PDT

    cd, only a smidgeon of people give a hoot about car races.

    evs are no longer golf carts. if we want people to start understanding this, then we gotta get said evs into their driving hands.

    it actually irritates me that toyota has the nerve to put out an electric race car, but no real ev for the people.

    i give them negative points for that. both toyota and gm are doing their best to delay the onslaught of evs to the public.

    i sincerely hope nissan crushes them. it looks as though they will have a huge headstart in the ev market, compared to the rest of the big guys.

    the best advertising is word of mouth - when one sees an acquaintance or neighbor with an ev.
     
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  5. CDspeed avatar CDspeed . Posted: 6/10/2012 7:02am PDT

    I do agree that the big manufacturers need to get a move on and give us some real electric cars. And Toyota is one of those companies that would rather sit around and wait for other companies to evolve the technology. But there are a lot of consumers who are big race fans, so just seeing this car race may get those people interested, and besides it is only a custom one of a kind car I doubt they're spending production level funds on it.
     
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  6. ev_enthusiast avatar EV Enthusiast Posted: 6/10/2012 9:17am PDT

    that is true, regarding the money they spent - that is just pocket change. mostly i am just irritated at their lack to help put out evs to the public.

    but i think you are incorrect about the number of consumers who are "big race fans".

    if you went around asking joe public who won the last indy 500 or whatever big race is around now, i dont think that even 1 in a 100 could give you the correct answer.

    posters on this site tend to be car enthusiasts and make the mistake that much of the rest of the population is, as well.
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  7. CDspeed avatar CDspeed . Posted: 6/10/2012 6:52pm PDT

    Race fans can be more skeptical of electric cars, so this one Toyota is for them. Plus race fans can often be the go to person for car advice in their families so this race car could spread to joe public through word of mouth. As the saying goes " race on Sunday, sell on Monday". Yes race fans are not the majority consumer but they have a lot of influence.
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  8. CDspeed avatar CDspeed . Posted: 6/10/2012 8:32pm PDT

    @ EV, I'm just as frustrated as you are with the big manufacturers, it's seems like the only thing they can deliver are promises and prototypes.
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  9. CDspeed avatar CDspeed . Posted: 6/9/2012 7:09am PDT

    I love that jet like sound from the electric motors at high speed.
     
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  10. ev_enthusiast avatar EV Enthusiast Posted: 6/11/2012 10:17am PDT

    cd, i suspect that more than just gm is tied to oil. it has dominated our planet for the past 100 years. so no doubt the ties go deep.
     
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  11. CDspeed avatar CDspeed . Posted: 6/12/2012 7:05am PDT

    I think that the companies dragging their heels the worst have also invested to much in hydrogen and they're affraid of what the public might think if it were to look like they wasted millions on an experiment. So they're choosing to go slow and act like they believe in both until one or the other takes hold.
     
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