MotorTorque Tumbles

Peugeot has set a new lap record for an electric car at the famous Nurburgring-Nordschleife circuit with the EX1 Concept supercar.

Last week, the French manufacturer set an official time at the historic circuit for the first time. The EX1 is a small and light vehicle which runs on two electric motors, one on each axle. The power output is 340bhp and the car can accelerate from 0-62mph in just 2.5 seconds.

It will not enter mass production, nor does it likely represent the design of future models by Peugeot.

Consisting of 12.944 miles of road, with 73 bends and 300 metres of altitude difference, the Nurburgring-Nordschleife is widely regarded as the most challenging race track in the world.

Despite the weather conditions being far from perfect, the EX1 set a lap of nine minutes, 1.338 seconds (9:01:338) at an average speed of 85.951mph. The prototype therefore easily beat the previous electric speed record at the circuit, which was previously a time of 9:51:45 set in 2010.

Driving the CX1 at the time was Stephane Caillet, a driver and tuner-technician from Peugoet’s Research and Development Centre.

The record was formally recognised by WIGE Performance, the official time-keeping body for the circuit.