With a top speed of 115 km per hour and weighing 320 kg, the battery operated ‘EVo 1’, India’s first electric race car designed and manufactured by students-cum-automobile enthusiasts from IIT Bombay, was unveiled at the institute on Thursday. It will now participate in the Formula Student competition at Silverstone Circuit, UK, from July 11-15. “Work on our first race car began in 2007. The IIT Bombay racing team participated in Formula Student in 2008 and 2009 with an IC engine powertrain. After a hiatus of three years, when the team built further competence at national competitions like the SAE India Baja, we decided to mark our entry into Formula Student 2012 with a newer and bigger challenge, the electric powertrain. Today, the team is proud to have created India’s first electric race car,” said Prateek Sharma, student and project manager. The car reaches speeds 100 kmph in five seconds/0-60 kmph in 3.5 seconds, 32 kW power (maximum) and it has taken Rs 15 lakh to make a single prototype. The first dry run was conducted on Wednesday. It started a year ago when 60 students from five departments started designing the electric car. The design objectives were high performance, lowest feasible carbon footprint and application of sound engineering practices. “This shift in technology to an all electric powertrain was primarily done keeping in mind the global impetus received for electric vehicles owing to energy security and environmental concern. India is miles away from mass scale commercialisation of electric vehicles, one of the reasons being the prohibitive cost of technology. In our capacity as a student organisation, we aim to develop indigenous technologies for electric vehicles, thus aiding their growth in India. It gave scope for innovation and inter-disciplinary effort,” he said. The team is now looking forward to “tough competition” at Silverstone. “It will include static events like technical inspection, sustainability, engineering design and business case (selling the car to prospective buyers) and dynamic events covering manoeuvrability and endurance challenge among others,” said Harshad Kunte, student and project manager. The team said the car is powered by “high efficiency DC motors and superior lithium polymer batteries”. “The race car has no tailpipe emissions, leaving negligible carbon footprint. Due to high voltage battery packs on board, driver safety was of utmost importance and we overcame challenges in designing a robust safety circuit,” said Sharma.