Toyota’s electric race car gets ready to hit the track and defend its title at Pikes Peak Hill Climb

 

Toyota is taking the all-electric TMG EV P002 racing car back to Pikes Peak, to defend its title in the world famous hill climb. With its enormous wings and heavy-duty roll bars, the P002 is not your average EV. Powered by a 42 kWh lithium-ceramic battery pack, the P002 has a top speed of 143-mph.

Toyota is certainly serious about taking its electric vehicle know-how to the track. Having already established an EV track record at the treacherous Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany, Toyota is heading back to the annual Pikes Peak Hill Climb, to defend its title in that high-altitude test of man and machine. 

The TMG EV P001 single-seat racing car set the benchmark time in the electric vehicle class last year at Pikes Peak, with a time of 10 minutes 53 seconds. Back with an updated model, the P002, Toyota intends to maintain its dominance and, more than likely, break the existing class record.

To do that, Toyota’s engineers have substantially increased power and downforce. At Pikes Peak, where race cars are right on the edge (of a cliff!), ultimate horsepower and top speed are less important than traction and a punch of acceleration out of tight corners.

Toyota Racing Development USA, which is based in Salisbury, North Carolina, has reduced weight of the P002 and tripled the levels of aero grip compared to the previous P001. Attention has also been paid to the electric powertrain, which now delivers the equivalent of 536-hp and a mammoth 885 lb.-ft. of torque. A new ceramic braking system has also been added to the P002.

Courtesy of NY Daily News