Gordon Murray -- known best as the designer of the McLaren F1 and the Mercedez Benz SLR McLaren (some of the fastest, most expensive and coveted cars ever made) -- has unveiled plans for an all-electric car dubbed the T.27.
Shockingly homely, the prototype for the T.27 has more in common with a Studebaker armored car or a Soviet light tank than the sleek beauties Murray has created before. But it does promise to be substantially greener than any electric vehicle in development.
This isn't the first time Murray has gone green. In July 2008, VentureBeat reported on his T.25 model -- an all-gas car efficient enough to travel 70 miles per gallon. While the T.25 is still looking for a home with a manufacturer, Murray is hard at work on the next gas-free iteration.
The key to the T.27's smaller carbon footprint is its manufacturing process -- how Murray actually designed it to be made. Instead of traditional sequences assembling the chassis, body and components, he designed everything to be installed on as bare a chassis as possible, even having pre-painted body parts bolted to the finished product (which streamlines the whole process and protects the paint). This lowers carbon emissions at the point of manufacturing, where current hybrids and plug-in vehicles are reportedly 20 percent dirtier than their internal-combustion cousins.
"The iStream manufacturing process behind the T.25 and T.27 is all about sustainable, low energy process by design," Murray has said. "An opportunity to start from a clean sheet of paper, combined with our disruptive manufacturing technology, will result in a product which truly pushes the boundaries of urban vehicle design."
Despite the reference to a clean sheet of paper, the T.27 will be very similar in size and layout to the T.25. A staggering $15 million (£9 million) will be spent to build four prototypes by 2011. Half of these funds have already been provided by the British government. It will be interesting to see if this will open the government up to the same criticism the U.S. Department of Energy has received for funding luxury cars made by Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive.
Murray Designs isn't the only firm working on the T.27. It has partnered with Zytek, the British company working on the Smart EV and Mercedes F1 KERS. It could be very helpful in supplying the electric components needed to make the vehicle a reality.
The McLaren F1, Murray's most famous brainchild, was all hellfire and tire smoke with a BMW-sourced V12 engine, going from zero to 60 miles per hour in 3.2 seconds, 100 miles per hour in 6.3 seconds, and topping out at over 240 miles per hour. It was built in the mid-1990s and is still the fastest naturally-aspirated car ever made.
The T.27, on the other hand, is designed to have a top speed of 60 miles per hour with acceleration times measurable by a sundial and range of 100 miles -- it is certainly made for short-distance, urban driving. On the upside, you could fit three of them in a nose-in parking space. It would also slash carbon emissions, even when compared to the Prius, all along its supply chain.
Every generation needs its own McLaren. Looks like the green movement just got its.
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