Zero to 100 in 0.956 seconds
(sustainabilityenvironment.com) – It took just 12.3 meters to conquer the world record of Electric car acceleration. A group of students from ETH Zurich and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Lucerne, creators of Mythen, an innovative e-car that yesterday, under the guidance of the driver Kate Maggetti, gave its best. On the Duebendorf military airport runway, the small electric car accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in just 0.956 seconds, beating the previous world record of 1,461 seconds reached in September 2022 by a team of the University of Stuttgart.
Thanks to a careful design that gave Mythen power, efficiency and lightness. All the vehicle components were developed by the students, from the printed circuit boards to the chassis via the battery. And each element has been optimized for the final result.
The “secret” behind the new acceleration record for electric cars
The team was able to reduce the weight of the car by using carbon and aluminium honeycomb design for the chassis. The result? Mythen weighs only 140 kg. The engines on the hubs of the four wheels – also developed by the students – together with a special drive chain give the vehicle its impressive power of 240 kilowatts. About 326 HP.
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But to earn the record of acceleration of electric cars, as explained by Dario Messerli, head of aerodynamics in the team “power is not the only thing that counts […] also effectively transfer that power to the ground is crucial”. In this context, as the ETH explains in a press note, conventional Formula 1 cars solve the problem through aerodynamics: a rear or front wing pushes the car to the ground. A trick not usable with Mythen, since this aerodynamic effect comes into play only when the car has already reached a certain speed. To ensure a strong traction from the beginning, the group has developed a kind of vacuum cleaner that can maintain the downward thrust by suction.
