Revo Powertrains is an

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a motor vehicle whose propulsion is powered fully or mostly by electricity. EVs encompass a wide range of transportation modes, including road vehicle, road and rail vehicles, electric boats and Submersible, submer ...

powertrain In a motor vehicle, the powertrain comprises the main components that generate engine power, power and deliver that power to the road surface, water, or air. This includes the internal combustion engine, engine, transmission (mechanics), trans ...

company based in

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is built on an informal archipe ...

. It was created by Tesla co-founder

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English media personality and former professional footballer. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal as a forward, spending six years with the former and seven year ...

Products

The Wrightspeed Route is a

plug and play In computing, a plug and play (PnP) device or computer bus is one with a specification that facilitates the recognition of a hardware component in a system without the need for physical device configuration or user intervention in resolving reso ...

repower kit for commercial trucks. It is a high-power medium-duty vehicle powertrain that uses electric drive with an onboard power station for efficiency and range. This is a

series hybrid Hybrid vehicle drivetrains transmit power to the driving wheels for hybrid vehicles. A hybrid vehicle has multiple forms of motive power, and can come in many configurations. For example, a hybrid may receive its energy by burning gasoline, but swi ...

retrofit kit for trucks. The kit includes controls, 200 kW

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 ...

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

with

clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...

less shifting,

battery pack A battery pack is a set of any number of (preferably) identical Battery (electricity), batteries or individual battery cells. They may be configured in a series, parallel or a mixture of both to deliver the desired voltage and current. The term ' ...

battery management system A battery management system (BMS) is any electronic system that manages a rechargeable battery (cell or battery pack) by facilitating the safe usage and a long life of the battery in practical scenarios while monitoring and estimating its various s ...

, and

LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers to display information. Liquid crystals do not em ...

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine fro ...

. Medium-duty trucks in the US are defined as vehicles with gross vehicle weights of . Founder Ian Wright discusses motivations for building truck powertrains in a
TedX Talk
an
Unfiltered interview

Wrightspeed X1

The Wrightspeed X1 is a one-off Ariel Atom heavily modified to use an all-electric

. The Atom was chosen for its light weight and efficient design. The electric motor and inverter are sourced from

AC Propulsion AC Propulsion is a San Dimas, California, USA company founded in 1992 by Alan Cocconi, Wally Rippel, and Paul Carosa, that specializes in alternating current-based drivetrain systems for electric vehicles. It offers AC-induction traction motors. ...

, makers of the TZero concept car, while the batteries are low weight, high energy density

lithium ion A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energy d ...

provided from

A123 Systems A123 Systems, LLC, a subsidiary of the Chinese Wanxiang Group Holdings, is a developer and manufacturer of lithium iron phosphate batteries and energy storage systems. The company was founded in 2001 by Yet-Ming Chiang, Bart Riley, and Ric Fu ...

. As with the ''Atom'' the transmission is a

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

unit, but stripped of its shifting mechanism and other parts to provide only the second gear speed, allowed by the wide speed and torque range available from the electric motor. Built by

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

-based New Zealand engineer

, the X1 created a stir when it bested several sports cars in a

drag race Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, mos ...

, including a

Carrera GT The Porsche Carrera GT (Project Code 980) is a mid-engine sports car that was manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 2003 to 2006. ''Sports Car International'' named the Carrera GT number one on its list of Top Sports Cars ...

(even with a rolling start, an advantage for the gas burning vehicles), all while being filmed by local news station KRON 4. Despite the impressive performance, the vehicle is intended only as a proof of concept. Future production is planned; however, according to the website, "... the production car will be quite different, since it will meet the safety standards, which the prototype does not. It will, however, be at least as quick as the prototype.". Mr. Wright was a co-founder of electric-car company

Tesla Motors Tesla, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it designs, manufactures and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices from hom ...

, but has since left to pursue his own ideas.

Performance

* 2.9 seconds * Standing 11.6 seconds * Top speed (electronically limited) * Range greater than in urban use * Charger: onboard conductive. Input 100–250 V 50 or 60 Hz * Current: user adjustable up to 80 A * Energy consumption in urban use, equivalent to or

The X1 prototype (various technical images)

''Most of these images are applicable to the Ariel Atom'' File:WrightspeedFrontBrake4889.JPG, Front wheel and brake File:WrightspeedSpring4882.JPG, Springs and

shock absorber A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulics, hydraulic device designed to absorb and Damping ratio, damp shock (mechanics), shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typic ...

File:WrightspeedStearingRack4888.JPG,

Steering Steering is the control of the direction of motion or the components that enable its control. Steering is achieved through various arrangements, among them ailerons for airplanes, rudders for boats, cylic tilting of rotors for helicopters, ...

rack File:WrightspeedCockpit4883.JPG, Cockpit File:WrightspeedRearSusp4884.JPG, Rear suspension File:WrightspeedRear4885.JPG, Rear view

Energy Efficiency

Central to Revo Powertrains' ethos is energy efficiency.

Clients

FedEx FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...

NZ Bus NZ Bus was a New Zealand bus company, operating in Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington. Originally a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group, and formerly Infratil and Next Capital, as of 2022 it is owned and operated by Kinetic Group. It was merged with ...

New Zealand Adopts Wrightspeed Jet And Battery Power For Buses
''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' 2016-04-22, viewed 2016-05-22

References

External links

* formerl
wrightspeed.com

From Wrightspeed, the jet-powered delivery truck

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

.
Wrightspeed

* ttp://www.pluginamerica.com/media/Wrightspeed.wmv Video of Wrightspeed X1 electric car beating a Ferrari 360 Spider and a Porsche Carrera GT
Video of Wrightspeed X1' test-drive in San Francisco

Video of X1 vs. a Lamborghini and a NASCAR race car with technological review

Video: Wrightspeed's X1 electric prototype zips around the race track and blows past a Tesla Roadster
{{Automotive industry in the United States Electric vehicle industry Manufacturing companies based in California Manufacturing companies established in 2003 American companies established in 2003 New Zealand companies established in 2003