Immortus – Australia’s Solar Powered Sports Car

Immortus Solar Sports Car - Australia

While auto manufacturing in Australia has certainly seen better days, the rapid evolution of solar power and energy storage may see a lucrative niche market develop in Australia for the local production of specialty electric vehicles.

One contender is Immortus, touted to be Australia’s first solar sports car.

A project of Melbourne-based EVX, Immortus will be a hand-built, limited edition electric vehicle able to be 100% powered by the sun.

EVX says Immortus can go from 0-100km/hr in less than 7 seconds when fully ladened and  has a top speed of over 150 km/h.

Range anxiety will be a thing of the past, with a combined battery and solar range of over 550km at an average of 85km/h; with “unlimited” range under ideal conditions at a speed of around 60km/h.

The vehicle will have a solar panel area of 7m2, using solar cells boasting 22% efficiency. Energy storage will be in the form of a 10kWh capacity bank of Lithium-ion batteries.

immortus solar car

EVX says unlike the “soulless and impractical nature of solar racers” (the SunSwift team may beg to differ), Immortus will be aesthetically pleasing and have true sports car performance.

EVX will be exhibiting a scaled down Immortus and related spin­off technologies at  the SEMA Show 2015 at Las Vegas Convention Center, USA in November.

The company is being supported by the research and development team at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Victoria.

EVX says it has made significant progress without any government funding to date and is now seeking seed capital to build and commercialize the working road legal prototype. EVX also wants to bring its hybrid retrofit kit to market; which enables petrol cars and light trucks to be converted to plug-in hybrids.

“The kit can potentially cut fuel consumption by over 50 percent in certain driving conditions or be used to boost the acceleration of almost any road vehicle,” says EVX. “Or, in the full conversion, eliminate fuel use all together.”

More than 740,000 electric vehicles were sold globally in 2014. However, Australia is yet to see significant interest. Last year, just 1,130 electric vehicles were sold locally and according to CarsGuide, only 321 of those went to private buyers. Still, 2014’s figures were a big increase on 2013, when just 292 EV’s were sold.

Get a quick solar quote, or contact us today toll free on 1800 EMATTERS or email our friendly team for expert, obligation-free advice!

Other Energy Matters news services: