World’s Fastest Street-Legal Electric Car

Oregon’s John Waylan, a/k/a “Plasma Boy,” has converted a 1972 Datsun 1200 to an all-electric vehicle, and has taken that a step further: the “White Zombie” is the world’s quickest-accelerating electric car.   On the outside, it lo0ks like an ordinary Datsun 1200, with a few racing stickers and so on, but under the hood is an entirely different story.  The conventional engine is gone.  A custom-built computer controls a surprisingly fast all-electric engine, so fast that it easily beats seemingly “fast” cars – such as Corvette and BMW M3 at Portland International Raceway’s Open Race Night.

The trunk and the back seat are filled up by sixty batteries.  The Datsun originally had 69 horsepower; now it has about 300 hp.  But the huge jump in horsepower isn’t the secret – it’s torque.  An electric engine can generate far more torque than a gas engine, and produce full torque from the first instant rather than having to work their way up to it.

John describes the engine’s sound as “like an electric drill on steroids.”

Watch the video, a news story on Oregon Public Broadcasting, to see John’s electric Datsun not only smoke past a Corvette on the race track, but also set a new world record.  Reaching over 107 mph in a quarter-mile in a fraction over 12 seconds, then later in the video he races a BMW M3 to set another world record: 11.9 seconds, then an astounding third world record in the same evening!

Here’s a quote from the Electric Car Stocks blog:

The white Zombie Datsun 1200 which was converted to an All electric car has been smoking cars that are well known for their speed! According to John Waylan also known as plasma boy, hes happy to know that he is not dependent on foreign oil and is trying to create awareness about electric vehicles by racing his car or the White Zombie against other cars known for their speed.

So far the White Zombie has proven itself to be one of the fastest street legal cars in its area!

On the first race it beets a corvette and tops 107 MPH on a quarter Mile strip in a fraction over 12 seconds! A NEW WORLD RECORD!

On the second race it beats a BMW M-3 and beats it twice in a row!

On the third race its sets another NEW WORLD RECORD in the same night @ 110 MPH on a quarter mile strip in under 12 seconds! UNBELIEVABLE! YOU HAVE TO SEE IT FOR YOURSELF!

Then later in the video, he replaces the lead acid-based batteries with substantially lighter, more efficient and more powerful lithium ion batteries, to shed about 700 pounds off of the car’s total weight and simultaneously increase the power  by about 100 horsepower — to around 400 hp.  The end result: yet another new world record: the quarter mile in under 11-1/2 seconds… and not generating even one ounce of air pollution.   Amazing.