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Infiniti Mid-Engine Electric Sports Car Coming to Geneva in 2012

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Infiniti Mid-Engine Electric Sports Car Coming to Geneva in 2012

Infiniti will debut a mid-engine, two-seat sports car at next year’s Geneva show. We spoke with Wayne Bruce, director of communications for Infiniti Europe who told us that a sporty electric two-seater will likely be a range-extended EV, as Infiniti told us that it will have zero emissions capability. This car is only another possibility for a range-topping Infiniti sports car, just as the Essence concept from the 2009 Geneva Motor Show was.

Autocar also spoke with Andy Palmer, head of global communications at Infiniti, this week’s Frankfurt show that an electric sports car and learned that it could borrow technology from parent company Nissan’s Leaf Nismo RC one-off racer. The car will be both Nissan and Infiniti’s first mid-engine concept since the 1980s-era Nissan MID4. Palmer said the new car could use components derived from the Leaf Nismo RC, a car Nissan claims can hit 60 mph in 6.85 seconds thanks to a 40-percent weight reduction compared to the road-going Leaf.

If the Leaf Nismo RC is to lend some of its electric performance mojo to the new Infiniti, we can expect power to be sent to the rear wheels, perhaps from the same 80-kW AC motor and lithium-ion batteries found in the standard Leaf. Autocar speculates that a small-capacity gasoline engine range-extender may occupy the space between the front and rear axles, giving the car the mid-engine distinction that Nissan so desires. As with other extended-range EVs (EREV), the internal combustion engine in Infiniti’s upcoming sports car will kick in when the batteries are depleted, only acting as a supplementary generator for the car’s electric motor.

Autocar also reports that new marketing partner Red Bull Racing could collaborate with Infiniti on the development of the new car. As we’ve reported previously, Red Bull Racing has been considering jointly developing a road car with the Japanese luxury automaker for some time. Whether or not this mid-engine EREV is that car remains to be seen. Autocar says the car is scheduled to go on sale by the middle of the decade, and will make its debut next March at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show.

Source: Autocar

 

Seventhson
The last paragraph in my previous comment should have read: I await the negative response from green people WITH relish and anticipation, as it only proves the unwillingness of Green People to listen to or consider all the hard questions that need to be answered while they all shout at the top of THEIR lungs with their fingers in THEIR ears..............sorry about that.
Seventhson
There IS a tailpipe on electric vehicles....at the coal fired power generation plants!! Another problem that Green People don't consider....power brownouts and blackouts....Seriously!....how many of these plugin vehicles can the North American Power grid handle. Anyone who thinks that we will be replacing coal power generation any time soon might consider that plugging in millions of these cars would seriously delay scrapping coal generation, as the extra energy would be needed to power these cars on the road. We cannot just pull the extra needed energy out of green peoples' a$$es....or maybe we can???(methane) Or maybe we could harness all the Hot Air Rhetoric from Green Faux Science. I await the negative response from green people relish and anticipation, as it only proves the unwillingness of Green People to listen to or consider all the hard questions that need to be answered while they all shout at the top of your lungs with their fingers in your ears!
PhillIp Martin, PhD
Now we are back to fossil fuel assisted cars. All electric cars in Canada so far are poorly ranged, cannot handle loads, cannot handle heating/defrosting in cold weather for extended distances..and in Canadas winter conditions...and with family and adult people, luggage and extended travel will be unsafe as hell. We are simply back to fossil fuels for safety. In addition the costs of replacing large capacity battery fuel cells according to parts suppliers are as much as $5,000.00 or more. Why cannot writers tell the whole story other than be PROMOTERS for the car companies. Only half the facts are told, Talk to mechanics..they know the truth.
 
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