Bright Ideas: Electric vehicles

Ian Wright driving his Wrightspeed X1 electric car. Photo / Supplied

Ian Wright
CEO, Wrightspeed Inc

Ian Wright is already assured of his place in history, for inventing the world's second-quickest car, the Wrightspeed X1. The only car that accelerates faster is the $2.8 million Bugatti Veyron, but the X1 wins on Brownie points, for being 100 per cent electric.

But making cars - especially supercars - is a very expensive business. Wright's former employer, Tesla Motors, has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into development, and has only just turned a profit recently.

Now based in Silicon Valley, Wright has given up his dream of producing his own vehicles and is instead focusing on building a powertrain known as a range-extended EV, a battery-powered electric drive system with an on-board generator which at this stage is aimed at high fuel consumption vehicles.

While hybrid cars are growing in popularity, these days Wright is pessimistic about the chances of range-extended EVs becoming the norm for family cars any time soon.

He doesn't personally believe that fuel cells are going to be viable, and the cost of lithium batteries is still far too high to make such cars worthwhile.

He is betting instead that the first mainstream use is likely to be for pickups and delivery trucks, and military vehicles. There is also enormous potential, he believes, at the extreme gas-guzzling end of the spectrum: ultra-high-performance road and racing cars.

Exactly how fuel cost should be measured in electric vehicles is still being debated, but Wright's calculations show that his own technology improves the fuel efficiency of delivery trucks from around 3.4km/litre to 14km/litre.

Wright has so far spent close to $1 million of his own money developing the technology. However, Wrightspeed still has a way to go before becoming commercially viable, he admits. While venture capital is hard to come by these days, he is encouraged by increasing interest from the US Government in the sector. He recently applied for US$40 million ($57.8 million) from the US Department of Energy, and is seeking another US$10 million elsewhere, which will help fund a new facility in San Jose.

"When we started Tesla it was probably a little bit early and we were very lucky to meet Elon [Musk] who kept the company going at that time. Now, I think a lot of people realise there is a fundamental transition happening... My big selling point is, we will make a measurable difference to national fuel consumption and we have a sustainable business model that's a pretty good return. So it's just a question of getting everything into a line."

As for those who fear we will see a repeat of California's disastrous attempt to encourage zero emission vehicles in the 1990s, Wright is doubtful.

"They tried very hard to make it all go away but it's not only still with us, it's accelerating. I think that despite anyone's best efforts it's going to happen as soon as the economics work."