Electrification started spreading across the automotive industry as a way to reduce emissions and our dependence on fossil fuels. Engineers soon realized electric motors can be used to improve performance because they provide instant torque, and some awesome cars have been built since. Tesla’s Model S P100D immediately comes to mind, but one of the quickest electric cars in the world is a homemade machine from Denmark.
The car kind of looks like it belongs in a science-fiction movie that was shot in the 1970s. It’s a few spikes away from looking like one of the models used in Death Race 2000. Website Speed Society has learned it borrows a handful of components from the third-generation Chevrolet Corvette, but the similarities between the two models are few and far between. Under the custom, wedge-shaped body lies a battery-powered drivetrain built from scratch by Hans-Henrik Thomsen and his cousin, Glenn Nielsen. The men call themselves the True Cousins, and they’ve dubbed their creation TC-X.
The TC-X recently blast through an eighth of a mile in just 4.89 seconds at a speed of 144 mph. That’s about a second away from the world record, which stands at 4.75 seconds, but before earning the bragging rights the True Cousins needed to prove they didn’t just get lucky. They posted a 4.9-second time on their second run down the same track in Malmo, Sweden. The TC-X is now officially the quickest-accelerating full-bodied electric car on the planet, and close to the all-out record for battery-powered machines.
That’s not the first time it’s gotten within striking distance of a world record. In 2015, the TC-X covered an eighth of a mile in 5.7 seconds, which made it the quickest electric car in the world at the time. Think a Tesla is ludicrous? This one was capable of blasting from zero to 62 mph in just 1.5 seconds. At the time, the powertrain used a huge battery pack that zapped a pair of forklift engine the cousins bought used. The batteries provided 2,200 horsepower for up to five seconds, which explains its neck-snapping acceleration. More up-to-date specifications haven’t been released yet, but pictures on the cousins’ Facebook page show it’s fitted with a parachute to help bring the action to a stop.
The current record-holder is a car named Panic in Detroit, according to Danish website Politiken. The True Cousins hope to beat its record once and for all the next time the TC-X hits the track.
“[In Malmo] we will see if the car and motorcycle can fall below 4.7. Then we want to beat the Americans. It will be a little shameful,” said Thomsen.
