New UK startup Alcraft Motor has revealed details of the Alcraft GT, an electric vehicle that the company hopes to develop with the help of a crowdfunding campaign.
The GT’s three-motor, four-wheel drive powertrain will reportedly provide 840lb ft torque and 600hp, resulting in an estimated 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds. A T-shaped battery pack between and behind the car’s two seats promises a range of 300 miles. The cabin will feature a roof composed primarily of glass and a wraparound front screen, while the rear will contain a 500 litre luggage compartment. According to Alcraft Motor, production is scheduled to get underway in 2019.
“We want to build a British car company which brings together traditional skills and high technology for the emerging low carbon car market”, said company founder and managing director David Alcraft.
“We’re about combining great design, outstanding dynamics and the visceral thrill of electric powertrains to create products that are high in performance and desirability but very usable. We hope this will establish a niche for Alcraft Motor in Britain’s renowned specialist low-volume car industry.”
Alongside David Alcraft, the company’s core team includes Charles Morgan, previously of Morgan Motor Company, former Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) CEO Christopher Macgowan, designer Matt Humphries, and ex-Toyota, Daewoo and Michelin senior executive Mark Carbery.
The company will be based at Silverstone, where it will work alongside engineering partner Delta Motorsport. Other partners include specialist British companies Sevcon and KS Composites, while Alcraft Motor says agreements are also in place with Continental and Michelin.
So far, the company has been entirely founder-funded, but Alcraft is now seeking outside finance to assist with the next stage of development, which will include building a prototype. As well as seeking private equity, a crowdfunding project has been set up on Indiegogo, with a flexible target of £600,000. The crowdfunding bands range from £10 to £25,000. Anyone partaking in the highest tier will qualify for a host of rewards, and will also receive a £25,000 discount on one of the first 15 cars produced. Those vehicles are provisionally priced between £130,000 and £145,000.
Yet again, an EV maker promoting very rapid acceleration, rather then something more normal, like 11sec to 62, and 500 miles range on a single charge. Until the infrastructure in the UK gets as widely available as filling stations for petrol and diesel, I for one, will not consider a EV. Only when the price is comparable to an average car, e.g. Ford Focus size will I seriously think about an EV.
Right on, Keith. After 60 years of driving nearly everything on the planet, and having owned some real performance cars, I’m at a loss as to why these vehicles are pitched to that sector which rarely can handle the performance, and not that which will appreciate run-time over inappropriate acceleration.
Have you driven a Tesla yet? The ev manufacturers tout acceleration because it is manifestly different with the electric powertrain.
They have equivalent range (slightly lower than ICE) ad refueling is slower than petrol. But acceleration is magnificent and visceral. Why not sell to your strength?
Also, can you imagine that wheel/tyre combination on the UKs potholed road network!
Agreed Keith, this has been a big bugbear of mine for years now. I don’t care if the car can do 0-100 in 5 secs or whatever, what I want, as you say and as Top Gear would have it – a sensibly priced car with a range of 300 miles plus on one charge. Cut down on performance (after all the legal limit is 70mph) and give us range.
Like wise agree, that sort of acceleration is pointless and potentially dangerous. What we need is a UK designed and built car for the people, the same mentality that VW started off with, hence the name.
A beautiful machine. Even more impressive though is the core team. With people like Christopher Macgowan involved, I have faith that this is more than just a wealthy car fans pipe dream.
I have some empathy with Robert Brennan’s thoughts on range and power. However as someone who has recently walked away from the tesla proposition over the range argument for the time being, I would add that most of us would happily compromise on range with a petrol car if it was particularly beautiful or aspirational. So it’s not only range and infrastructure that we are waiting for.
The elephant in the room is recharge time.
I’m lucky enough to be at the sharp end of designing beautiful and aspirational cars but I just wonder how much more impressive the range would be if the vehicles designed didn’t accelerate at the preposterous rates that they do or indeed were designed to have top ends of over 100 mph, none of which are useable, certainly here in the UK. Does performance necessarily go hand in hand with aesthetics? Just wondering really….
I remember going to another presentation at Silverstone a year and a bit ago with my friend Richard Swindells, it was not called Alcraft then i think, but the same team involved. It was the lack of realistic start up investment numbers that made me question the quality of the proposition. It is simply not realistic to think in terms of a few tens of millions, when 150 -200 will be needed to design, manufacture, test and validate, and then market and distribute a completely new design like that. At Tesla the point of day-one production start had cost around 660 Million as an estimate.
Copy of a SAAB-design?
It is beautiful but again I’d rather have an Aston Martin for the same money
A bit of a no brainer
Rather than rechargeable batteries with their inherently long recharging period, would we not be better off using hydrogen and fuel cells? The process of re-fuelling would then not be dissimilar from petrol / diesel or LPG.
Another great advantage would be the ability to produce the hydrogen by electrolysis on site, be it a service station or at home and would not require the sudden large power drains on the electrical grid associated with fast charging but would in fact act as distributed energy storage, thus overcoming the fluctuations in supply presented by wind and solar.
The same great shape, no question. If we ever stop making petrol engine and gearbox to run on Diesel I think the Diesel engine could be the hybrid alternative you dreamed of. Imagine the torque of a Diesel engine only running at optimum ignition to supply an Electric powertrain? You wouldn’t be left in the cold for leaving the entertainment centre running.
Looks like a stunning concept but price, range and recharge infrastructure remain the vital elements for success. As IHS pointed out last week, forecasts of pure Electric vehicle sales will remain low right up to and including 2025. The big area of focus will be mild-hybrid vehicles (IHS suggest mild hybrids will account for 22% of global light sales in 2025 with combustion engines still accounting for 70% of the total). Mild-hybrids, which do not need plugged in or recharged and can operate on short journeys or in traffic on electric power only are where the money will be made.
Stunning design, but they’ve nicked design cues from Range Rover and Aston Martin. Nothing wrong with that I suppose – both designed in the UK.
However going round corners might be a problem. With that design, there’s insufficient clearance between the wheel and the front wing! Never mind; I’m sure it goes very fast in a straight line.
Also the name – dreadful – sorry Mr Alcraft, but who’s going to pay a shedload of money for a car called ‘Alcraft’ it sounds a shop you buy hobby equipment from ‘ Alcraft the one stop shop for all your craft requirements’!
PLEASE …. think of a better name –
Conversation in the club – ‘Hi Blenkinsop, I’ve just bought a new Aston, what are you driving at the moment….. (response) An Alcraft ……. (response) Ohh … really …. what’s that? (how is that going to improve your credibility?)
Lets have a competition for new name.