Latvian Pride - OSCar
A truly unique extended range electric car has been developed in Latvia by a renowned engineering team OSC. The electric car named OSCar eO is set to compete at the Dakar Rally 2012 that is taking off 1st of January 2012.
The team led by Andris Dambis has achieved a true feat by preparing the car in just over 6 months. It is based on the conventional OSCar O3 (you might have noticed it at the previous Dakar seasons – that big yellow thing) but apart from the appearance, it’s an almost entirely new car. They had to remake everything to accommodate the massive battery packs and new equipment.
The car is driven by a powerful permanent magnet electric motor with 150kW nominal power and 400Nm nominal torque. Peak power and torque is 335kW and 800Nm respectively.
The extended range of almost 500 miles is supported by a small Nissan internal combustion engine and a clever regenerative braking system. The Nissan engine doesn’t power the wheels – it turns the generator and tops up the batteries.
Initially it wasn’t intended to use a gearbox, because an electric motor starts producing torque the moment it starts turning. However, considering that the OSCar’s electric motor is capable of producing the mammoth 800Nm of torque, an electric car like eO cannot do without a gearbox.
The car has been thoroughly tested and so far the results are great. In fact, the Latvian electric car is performing so well that if it justifies the hopes of its creators at the Dakar Rally 2012, they’re considering supplying the technology behind the car as a conversion kit. I bet it’s something I could consider for my Land Rover 
It’s actually great news for everyone. An electric car taking part in such a big event means great publicity for the whole electric car concept. By the way, today Latvia celebrates its Independence Day. God bless!
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tnx, the real testing now goes on