By Nick Aziz
Wednesday, Mar 4th, 2009 @ 4:47 am

Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg used its press conference at the Geneva Motor Show to reveal a concept car it calls Quant. The futuristic four-seater sports car is a pure electric vehicle, powered by advanced rapid-charge-capable batteries and two electric motors.

The car has some impressive performance numbers, including a zero to 62 mph time of just 5.1 seconds and a top speed of 172 mph. Output is rated a 512 horsepower, while torque is an impressive 527 pound-feet, available from 1 rpm, all the way up to the maximum motor speed.

Koenigsegg says two contractors are currently working on running prototypes to scale up for series production.

Overall weight is just over 3,900 lbs, which is pretty reasonable for a large four-seat grand tourer — especially one with heavy batteries propelling it. Koenigsegg says the car has the interior volume of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class . With a drag coefficient of just 0.27, the car has a range of 312 miles on a full charge. Recharging the batteries from empty to full takes just 20 minutes via a commercial grade electrical hookup.

The battery technology is referred to as FAES (Flow Accumulator
Energy Storage), though specific details have not been disclosed. The battery pack — positioned extremely low in the car — weighs nearly 1,000 lbs, contains no hazardous materials and no heavy metals. Amazingly, Koenigsegg says there is virtually no limit to the number of recharge cycles the batteries can withstand.

The car’s entire body is covered in NLV Solar’s thin-film photovoltaics coating, which provides a trickle of additional power on sunny days.

Quant is rear-wheel drive, with four-wheel brake regeneration, ABS and ESP. It is powered by two electrical AC induction electric motors with variable frequency drive and in-line planetary step down drive, one for each rear wheel. The twin-motor design eliminates the need for bevel gears or a differential, further simplifying the lay-out and giving constant and controlled power proportioning to the rear wheels, in both drive and coast mode.

Safety features include a crashworthy aluminum and carbon structure, underpinned by a carbon-fibre monotube backbone. Importantly, the vehicle also features six passenger airbags.

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