The Solectria Sunrise was an innovative electric passenger car, designed to be as efficient as possible to produce long range from available battery technology. Created by

Solectria Corporation Solectria Corporation was responsible for the design, engineering, and manufacturing of energy management components for industrial applications, including electric vehicles, parallel hybrid drivetrains, and power generation applications. It was fo ...

Woburn, Massachusetts Woburn ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,876 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Woburn is located north of Boston. Woburn uses Massachusetts' ...

(since acquired by Azure Dynamics Corporation), it was never produced beyond several prototypes, although significant effort was made to make the design worthy of mass-production—including crash testing. The Sunrise is known for having achieved on a single charge, during the 1996

American Tour de Sol The American Tour de Sol (ATdS) was an annual electric vehicle conference and rally that ran from 1989 to 2006 under the supervision of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), drawing inspiration from the Tour de Sol that started in ...

competition. A Sunrise was driven from Boston to New York city "on a single battery charge, negotiating everyday traffic and highway speeds up to 65 miles per hour" (104 km/h).

Specifications

*Body **Composite, monocoque unibody shell ** Coefficient of Drag (Cd) approximately 0.17 *Dimensions **length 176" (447 cm) **width 74" (188 cm) **height 52" (132 cm) **

wheelbase In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...

104" (264 cm) *Weights **

curb weight A curb (American English) or kerb (British English) is the edge where a raised sidewalk/pavement or road median/central reservation meets a street/other roadway. History Although curbs have been used throughout modern history, and indeed ...

without batteries 1433 lb (650 kg) **

payload Payload is the object or the entity that is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of t ...

682 lb (309 kg) **

GVWR Vehicle weight is a measurement of wheeled motor vehicles; either an actual measured weight of the vehicle under defined conditions or a gross weight rating for its weight carrying capacity. Curb or kerb weight Curb weight (American English) or k ...

2979 lb (1351 kg) *Drive system **50 kW Solectria AC

induction motor An induction motor or asynchronous motor is an AC motor, AC electric motor in which the electric current in the rotor (electric), rotor that produces torque is obtained by electromagnetic induction from the magnetic field of the stator winding ...

inverter A power inverter, inverter, or invertor is a power electronic device or circuitry that changes direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC). The resulting AC frequency obtained depends on the particular device employed. Inverters do the op ...

, driving front wheels via

Geo Metro The Geo Metro was a variation of the Suzuki Cultus available in North America from 1989 through 2001 as a joint effort of General Motors (GM) and Suzuki. In the US, the Metro carried a Geo nameplate from 1989 through 1997, and a Chevrolet namepl ...

transaxle A transaxle is single mechanical device which combines the functions of an automobile's transmission (mechanics), transmission, axle, and differential (mechanics), differential into one integrated assembly. It can be produced in both manual tra ...

*Batteries **24 GM/ Ovonic

Nickel metal hydride battery Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slow ...

, 12v 90 Ah *Suspension **front: 1994

MacPherson strut The MacPherson strut is a type of automotive suspension system that uses the top of a telescopic damper as the upper steering pivot. It is widely used in the front suspension of modern vehicles. The name comes from American automotive engineer ...

**rear: 1994

Dodge Neon Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above Ply ...

**coil

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...

s with

airbag An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system using a bag designed to inflate in milliseconds during a collision and then deflate afterwards. It consists of an airbag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, an inflation module, and an impact sensor. ...

s **manual

Rack and pinion rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a circular gear (the '' pinion'') engaging a linear gear (the ''rack''). Together, they convert between rotational motion and linear motion: rotating the pinion causes the rack to be d ...

steering *Brakes **manual,

front disk,

drum rear **

regenerative braking Regenerative braking is an energy recovery mechanism that slows down a moving vehicle or object by converting its kinetic energy or potential energy into a form that can be either used immediately or stored until needed. Typically, regenerativ ...

Tire A tire (North American English) or tyre (Commonwealth English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineeri ...

s **13"

tires *Performance **0–30 mph: 6 seconds **0–60 mph: 17 seconds **range,

: 400 miles (643 km) at 30 mph (48 km/h), 200 miles (321 km)at 60 mph (96 km/h).

Kit version

In 2005, a single prototype as well as the moulds necessary to produce the composite chassis and body were sold and now belong to a hobbyist-led project to produce a similar vehicle as kits, to be known as the Sunrise EV2.
''See Sunrise-ev.com''

References

External links

MIT Technology Review article from 1998
*
Web page for one of the original vehicles

{{Azure Dynamics Electric cars Production electric cars Electric car models

Specifications

Kit version

See also

References

External links