Check Out This Drag Racing VW Beetle EV – Review Geek


The VW Beetle EV on a drag racing track.
The Late Brake Show

While it may sound a bit odd, people really like to convert old VW Beetles into electric drag-racers. The practice goes back twenty years, and back in 2011, two brothers shocked the world with their Black Current III electric Beetle. Now they’re back with an even more ridiculous car, the “V8-killing” Black Current IV.

Note: Several outlets are clinging to this story under false pretenses. The modified VW Beetle EV doesn’t have 6,500 horsepower—that rating is both outrageous and plainly incorrect. ‘The Late Brake Show’ acknowledges that it made a mistake, but other publications aren’t doing their due diligence.

We decided to share this story because it’s really freakin’ cool. It highlights a scene of enthusiasts who are integral to the rise of EVs. The horsepower doesn’t matter.

While previous Black Current EVs were based on very old VW Beetles, the new model is a heavily modified 2013 mk2 New Beetle. It now has a full carbon-fiber body, plus a custom 22kWh battery pack and 800V architecture. Notably, it runs on a total of four inverters, which diligently control the rotation speed of four permanent magnet Axial flux AC three-phase motors.

Brothers Olly and Sam Young, who built the Black Current IV, believe that it can run a quarter-mile in seven seconds or less. That would make it the “world’s quickest” electric vehicle, which is shocking, given that it’s a modified Beetle and it’s street legal. (The Young brothers haven’t brought this thing to top speed yet, so we can’t confirm how fast it actually moves.)

For reference, the Tesla Model S Plaid recently completed a 9.4-second quarter mile. And the current world-record holder, the Rimac Nevera, made its trip in 8.52 seconds.

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise—the old Black Current III was a record-setter back in 2011, despite the fact that it ran on a repurposed milk-float motor (an electric motor from a UK milk delivery truck). The only reason why Olly and Sam Young started working on this new Black Current VI is because the previous model crashed at 140 MPH during a drag race in 2017.

Anyway, you should watch the above video made by The Late Brake Show. It covers the Black Current VI and its history in more detail than I’ve provided. Plus, it’s a video, and I know you want to see this weird drag-racing EV.

Source: The Late Brake Show





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