Auto-Online Overseas Special Column
Kleenspeed- an electric vehicle company locates in NASA Ames Research Center
Written By Ray Wu
For most people, electric vehicles are slow, inconvenient, and still in concept or prototype. But the situation has been changed since Tesla started to manufacture Roadster and sell it. Also, Taiwanese government, issued the first license plates to Taiwanese Luxgen EV+. Meanwhile, NISSAN Leaf will be sold in U.S. soon. Electric vehicles definitely are the trend and there will be another revolution in car industry. Now, AOL presents to you an electric vehicle company, which is from United States and specialized in battery management system (BMS) and battery technology- KLEENSPEED.
【The introduction of KLEENSPEED】
KLEENSPEED was found in 2007. CEO Timothy Collins is also the founder of KLEENSPEED. The company is in NASA Ames Research Center, which is at Moffett Field near Mountain View. NASA is also the technology partner with KLEENSPEED.
KLEENSPEED is not only an electric vehicle company, but also specialized in BMS. By using advanced technology, KLEENSPEED can build a very efficient motor that can have both performance and endurance. The CTO, Dante Zeviar, leads a ten-member team and form the R&D department. This particular team was hand-chosen by Timothy Collins. All members from this team are elites from different fields.
Now, the products include the fastest EV race car- KLEENSPEED WX10 and a Miata, which is already converted into electric vehicle that is called Eiata.
【The fastest EV racecar in ReFuel Race】
Maybe KLEENSPEED is not as famous as TESLA does, and there is no such a big investor like TOYOTA, but KLEENSPEED has the fastest EV racecar that is named KLEENSPEED WX10. It is the fastest EV racecar in the world, which set the fastest record in 2009 and 2010 at Laguna Seca in ReFeul Race. The current EV lap record at Laguna Seca is 1:42.5 that was set by KLEENSPEED WX10 in July 2010.
KLEENSPEED WX10 uses AC Propulsion motor and it has 200hp, which can run 160mph. The total weight of WX10 is around 1400 pounds and that is the weight with 1600 lithium ferrous phosphate batteries. With 5-hour full charged batteries, KLEENSPEED WX10 EV racecar can run 17 minutes or 10 laps.
The driver who drove WX10 and set the fastest EV record was Tim Collins himself, a 70-year-old CEO, is also a racing driver and owns a Porsche 997 GT3. As you can see, Tim Collins is energetic and always shows his passion to electric vehicles.
【Eiata- reaches 120mph】
You can hardly tell the differences from this first generation Mazda Miata to the others. In fact, when you pop up the hood and trunk at back, you will discover the secret of it. Comparing with other electric vehicles, KLEENSPEED’s Eiata installed an electric motor instead of normal internal combustion engine. The Eiata even uses the original gearbox from Miata and can run 120mph, which is quite impressive.
As for the interior, the original air condition vents on dashboard are replaced by rpm monitor and emergency electricity switch. There is another multi-function monitor on the co-driver side, which can display all the information. It is because Eiata is an electric vehicle, the few things that driver needs to do are switch on, step on clutch and put in first gear, then Eiata is on the way.
【Test drive- speed up without any noise】
Since we are already in NASA, the test drive needs to be done. Tim told engineer to charge Eiata the night before we had a test drive. Eiata is quite different from ordinary gasoline engine car. When we had the test drive, the motor was very quiet. We could easily speed up without any noises. Furthermore, this Eiata’s motor was connected to the original transmission, which was different from other electric vehicles that had only single speed. In case there was anything that we didn’t understand, Kleenspeed engineers gave us a pre-drive lesson, which made the experience of driving this electric vehicle more fun.
KLEENSPEED Eiata is not only a clean vehicle, but also has the performance. In order to balance weight as 50:50, engineer put the battery packages at the trunk that make Eiata’s performance even better than the original Miata. Besides, there are still some spaces at the trunk. You can easily put a golf bag inside the trunk.
Eiata, as we can see, is a very mature product. KLEENSPEED also plans to sell whole conversion kit to customers and the price will be around 17,000（without installation）. You can convert your own Miata into a full electric car. It is much cheaper than a brand new electric car.
【Future goal: a light weight consumer electric vehicle】
When I visited KLEENSPEED, I also did a short interview with CEO, Timothy Collins. When I asked him about when will be the time for KLEENSPEED to manufacture its own consumer electric vehicle, I got the direct answer from Tim. He said: KLEENSPEED will definitely go into automotive industry. The prototype has been designed and it will be a lightweight consumer vehicle, which only has 2000 pounds (about 910 kg). The main purpose of this lightweight electric vehicle will be urban commuting. Tim also mentioned about this micro car will have good performance and mileage per charge, which makes it very convenient for user to park and drive in the city. Soon, there might be the first KLEENSPEED electric vehicle.
The other question that I had was since there will be a KLEENSPEED lightweight electric vehicle, what is the purpose of having KLEENSPEED WX10? Tim answered it is because racetrack is an ultimate environment for testing. The data from racecars is certainly valuable for a new car project. The above is the reason KLEENSPEED has the racecar.
【Big future for electric vehicles】
Before this special column, Auto-online had a report about Bay Area is competing with other cities and trying to win the title of Greenest City in the U.S. At the same time, 5000 rapid chargers will be installed in Bay Area. In order to catch up the trend of electric vehicle, many of electric car manufacturers are trying to put out their electric cars. Even NISSAN and TOYOTA are doing the same thing. Can KLEENSPEED win its first war? We will stay tuned.
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