De Lorean returns as EV?
Back to the Future star car amps up for an all-electric return in 2013It will probably come as something of a surprise to most that the gull-winged, mid-engined, brushed stainless steel-clad De Lorean dreamcar of the early 1980s has never really gone away. The fantasy-made-real by engineer and ex GM executive John De Lorean has had remarkable stiction in the minds of many, due in large part to the De Lorean DMC-12’s star role in the Back to the Future Movie series screened from the mid to late 1980s.
And it is still being built today, albeit in limited numbers.
Since 2007, something like 40 De Lorean DMC-12s have been built to special order by the new De Lorean Motor Company formed in 1995 by Texan entrepreneur Stephen Wynne. Following the acquisition of the De Lorean name and original parts inventory in 1995, Wynne was able to arrange the building of complete cars, largely from spare parts.
Now, the De Lorean Motor Company is on the brink of bringing the original Giugiaro-designed DMC-12 two-seater back in a more forceful way.
From 2013, the De Lorean DMC-12, in all its original beauty, will again become a production reality, powered not by a mid-mounted Wankel rotary engine or a conventional V6, but by a 150kW electric motor. Which fits with both the original vision of the De Lorean being a car of the future and the emergence of high-performance electric vehicles such as the ultra high-priced, Lotus-based Tesla roadster from the US.
Working in conjunction with electric vehicle specialist Epic EV – which is itself developing a three-wheel EV with what is presumably the same 150kW electric motor to be used in the De Lorean - the new De Lorean Motor Company says it will have the electric DMC-12 in production by 2013. The pricetag is anticipated to be around US$100,000.
No details of the De Lorean EV’s range, or performance, have yet been released, but the combination of 150kW and the inherent strong torque of the electric motor should do adequate justice to the coupe’s car-of-the-future reputation.
The original DMC-12 De Lorean was styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro, with most of the structural engineering done by Lotus founder Colin Chapman. Chapman employed a backbone chassis and materials similar to those used in his Lotus Esprit after the original De Lorean design featuring untried Elastic Reservoir Moulding (ERM) technology was found to be unpractical.
The car was produced for the North American market at a facility in Dunmurry, near Belfast in Ireland, from 1981 to 1982.
It is believed around 6,500 DMC-12 De Loreans exist today, at least one of which has found its way to Australia.
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