Optimal Energy unveiled the Joule at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show. We’ve known about this South African all-electric car since lat last year and have been waiting for it to come to life at Geneva. It’s just unfortunate that it debuted in Europe rather than its home country. Worse still is that with the Johannesburg International Motor Show (JIMS) off this year, it probably won’t happen anytime soon. Unless it hits the mall “auto show” market…
Anyways, a bit about the Joule. The car was conceptualised in South Africa as an all-electric-powered city car for the future. The assembly point is Port Elizabeth where it’s built by hand.
A 36 kWh traction battery provides the required power. The traction battery supplied by South Korea's Energy Innovation Group consists of a number of modules, each module containing lithium-ion cells. It comes with a transversely-mounted synchronous electric motor making 75kW and 280Nm of torque. They say it will go from 0 – 100km/h in less than 15 seconds, which is very slow indeed. But the range is said to be between 230km and 300km on a full charge. It can be recharged using a normal home plug system.
Optimal Energy says it will start manufacturing the Joule in 2012 for sale in 2013.
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