First announced last October, the reborn, all-electric Delorean has made a surprise appearance at the New York Auto Show this year. It's a surprise because not even Delorean Motor Company president Stephen Wynne knew he was going to be here until a few weeks ago, when show organizers called with an invite.
With a prime spot near the EV ride along track – the DMCev is sadly not involved – Wynne said he's been getting good attention, even though said track is in the basement. We asked Wynne what's been going on with the car since last fall's announcement and the short answer is that this is one EV concept that's going into production.
The target date for fans to buy the DMCev is early 2013, but a lot has to happen between now and then. Right now, all the company has is the converted DMC-12 to show off the technology. To create this, the designers had to add 200 pounds of stuff, and the production version is going to be either the same weight as the gas version, or a few pounds less, in order to improve both performance and range. The car is powered by a 32-kWh lithium iron phosphate battery pack and has a 125 mile per hour top speed with a range of 100 miles. Published specs claim a 0-60 time of 4.9 seconds, but Wynne said the target is now under six seconds. Price for all this fun? $95,000.
DMC will assemble the car in Houston, TX with a lot of help from Louisiana's Epic EV, the company working on the Torq and Amp vehicles (not the Amp conversions). These two companies are testing different motor/inverter combinations for the electric Delorean, and Wynne said they are looking for a "proven product" from a company that has at least "several hundred" units on the road. The current prototype also uses a DC motor, but the production will use AC for better range, performance and regenerative braking ability. The old-school dashboard is also due for an upgrade
Those are the details we could glean in New York today. Can you believe we made it through this entire post without a Back To The Future reference? The DMCev can't do it, though, with a license plate that reads "Gas? Where we're going we don't need gas" and a battery that carries the "Flux Power" nickname. For more, you can watch a video of Translogic going for a ride in the DMCev here.
Source: Autoblog Green
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A little has changed for the Delorean. In the movie Back to the Future, it was powered by a flux capacitor, but now, it's powered by electricity. And still, it has its gull-wing door which is the trademark part of the car.
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