Artega joins high-powered EV sports set

Financial troubles saw German sports car specialist Artega bought out by Mexican interests in early 2010, but the company has managed to come up with an all-electric version of its GT sportster.

For its Artega SE (it stands for Sports Electric), the company has replaced the GT's mid-mounted Volkswagen-sourced V6 and replaced it with a 192-cell Li-ion battery pack powering a pair of rear axle-mounted electric motors. Most of it, anyway – to even up weight distribution, four of the sixteen 12-cell battery modules sit up front.

The company has remained quiet about power management and torque distribution systems, but it is known that each motor powers its own wheel independently. The water-cooled battery, good for 37kW/h at a nominal 350V, delivers a claimed range of between 200 and 300km, with the usual caveats about variability with driving style.

An aluminum space frame, along with extensive use of high-strength steel and carbon fibre- reinforced alloys, keeps the SE's weight around around 1400kg, of which the battery pack accounts for 310kg. That's 300kg heavier than its petrol engined sibling, but Artega claims the SE's aggregate 280kW and instant full torque delivery (no torque figure is available) gets it from 0-100 km/h in 4.3 seconds -- about half a second quicker than the GT. Top speed is quoted at 'over 250 km/h'. Weight distribution is consistent with the GT to minimise the impact on handling, braking and performance characteristics.

The SE can be charged overnight from standard domestic power outlets; using high-powered dedicated facilities can reduce charge time to as little as 90 minutes from flat to full.

Unveiling the car in March at the Geneva motor show, the company announced its production plant in Delbrück, Germany, has the capacity to build 500 cars per year.

Some blogosphere optimists have declared the SE a Tesla Roadster killer. That's not likely. Priced at 150,000 euro ($205,000) in its home market, the SE costs close to twice the Tesla. Other competitors hail from some of the most cashed-up names in the business, for example Audi (e-tron series) and Mercedes-Benz (SLS AMG).

That said, Artega's funding comes from pockets of similar depth. Although the company's headquarters and plant remain in Germany, it's now owned by Mexican venture capital firm Tesalia Capital, an investment vehicle owned by Mexican beer baroness Linda Alvarado.

It has enjoyed input from other big names, too. If some of the SE's design nuances seem familiar, that's because the donor GT was penned by Henrik Fisker, the designer behind the BMW's Z8 and Aston Martin's DB9 and V8 Vantage, who has himself joined the alternative power sector with his Fisker Karma PHEV.

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