At an event held at the RAC, Pall Mall, London Gordon Murray Design has today unveiled their latest ultra compact city vehicle, T.27, the world's most efficient electric car.
The design and development programme for T.27 is a £9 million project, made possible through a £4.5 million investment from the government-backed Technology Strategy Board. From a clean sheet of paper to a running prototype the programme has taken just 17 months including the design and build of a completely new electric powertrain by Zytek Automotive Ltd, one of the Consortium partners.
T.27 specifically targets the urban city environment via a unique, holistic, manufacturing process (‘iStream®') developed by Consortium lead partner Gordon Murray Design, it aims to significantly reduce lifecycle impacts and enable low cost, efficient manufacture within the UK. The electric car sets new standards in weight, footprint, small car dynamics, safety, packaging and efficiency whilst addressing full lifecycle CO2 emissions, congestion, parking and low cost motoring.
Gordon Murray Design's patented iStream® manufacturing technology has produced new levels of lightweight structure and safety in city cars. The iFrame geometry in the T.27 has allowed every aspect of the vehicle to be optimised including Zytek Automotive's integrated powertrain, another world first.
Unveiling the T.27, Professor Gordon Murray, CEO of Gordon Murray Design said:
"Lightweight is the most powerful tool we have in our armoury in the fight against emissions and fuel consumption. This is true of all cars and especially so with electric vehicles! A lightweight car means a lightweight battery increasing the levels of safety and reducing the retail price dramatically." The T.27 represents a huge step forward in protecting our mobility and our environment.
Gordon Murray Design recently achieved first class results in a second crash test on the vehicle - the EuroNCAP 50kph mobile deformable barrier (MDB) protocol, confirming the structural integrity of an iStream® manufactured chassis during a side impact.
The real world performance of T.27 closely correlated with simulation revealing virtually zero cabin intrusion during the dynamic phase of impacting. The exemplary performance of T.27 in side impact presents a further milestone in vehicle safety development for the company.
