Beautiful Mind

Elica - organo di propulsione per natanti a motore.

This is the dictionary meaning of the word Elica which means organ of propulsion for floating to motor. But what makes this word more interesting is, this is the word which has caught everyone's eyes in the Tokyo Motor Show this year.

This car was developed by the industry-university joint research center whose members include the Keio University Electric Car Research Center and 38 companies. This electric vehicle, which uses lithium batteries, has achieved high speed specs, with an acceleration velocity of 0.8G, reaching 400 km/h at maximum speed (the actual record to date is 370km/h). Moreover, the fuel-efficient cars of late has mileage of a few dozen kilometers, however, ELICA, surprisingly, is able to run 100 km on just 100 yen of electric fuel. Naturally enough, the Eliica roadgoing prototype aims to offer the ultimate environment and safety standards – power will be available by plugging into the mains electricity where it will take 10 hours to take on a full charge which should offer the 2,400kg Eliica a range of 200 kilomtres.

It was designed after the catamaran ships of the Polynesia; its streamlined body is sandwiched closely by eight tires, minimizing wind resistance and increasing the stability of the car body. Though it looks to be limousine length, the Eliica actually only seats the driver and three passengers – small consolation is that at an approximate US$320,000 a unit in prototype form, the car will still be in a limousine price range when manufactured in production quantities.We hope that dream cars like this will be made available to us soon.