"Horsepower sells cars, torque wins races."

-Enzo Ferrari

In this age of change, the difference between torque and horsepower could not be clearer. As electric vehicles start to become more common place on our streets and racetracks, the outrageous acceleration provided by an electric motor cannot be disputed. With companies like tesla producing passenger vehicles that can accelerate from 0-100kph in around 2.5 seconds, it has to be noted that for outright acceleration, noting gives you the bang for buck that a mega torquey electric motor does.

Imagine you need to accelerate away from a situation on your traditional combustion engined motorcycle. You have to drop a gear before hitting the throttle, slowing the time between you reacting to the danger and the bike actually pulling away. On an electric motorcycle, you twist and go, no hesitation from the bike, all the torque ready for when you most need it. Not only does an EV have more torque than an equivalent combustion car or bike, but it is also easier to get that torque moving you the way you want.

Electric vehicles aren’t only making a difference on our roads, they are starting to light up the tracks as well. In the last few days, the Lamborghini Hurrican was knocked off the top spot as the fastest production car around the ‘green hell’ Nürburgring by the NIO EP9 Electric Supercar. After watching the video of the lap, you can see the shear momentum the car can build up in such an insanely short amount of time.

Electric motorcycles are also making their mark on the racing scene with the TT Zero event at the infamous Isle of Man TT. In 2012 MotoCzysz smashed the 100mph average speed challenge around the 37.7-mile (60km) course. Only 3 years later, the winner’s average speed was up at 119mph.

As battery technology improves, these electric cars and motorcycles will only get faster. For every electric vehicle sold, that’s one less combustion engined vehicle on the road meaning more money going towards EV development, more speed, more range and lower costs. Batteries also have an almost limitless potential as the technology improves. With new materials like Graphene starting to work their way into newer battery models, we could see lightweight units with huge ranges that can be charged in under 10 minutes.

Combustion engine development is stagnating as there is only so much you can do to an already overly complicated power unit. Have you had a look at a modern combustion engine? The ridiculous number of computers, sensors and management systems make the prospect of a home mechanic attempting a DIY fix or service a much rarer occurrence. Electric motors are so simple that new designs are showing up all over the word in all sorts of applications. I for one would love to have a go kart, motorcycle or race car that would require minimal drivetrain parts and have very few parts to go wrong. That was always one of the big issues with motorsports, putting a vehicle through intense conditions and inevitably breaking something, cutting your day short.

Speaking of go-karts, the Canadian company Daymak has released a fully electric go-kart that accelerates from 0-100kph in 1.5 seconds. Yes, you read that correctly, 1.5 seconds. Imagine the face melting adrenaline of sitting a few centimetres from the ground as you accelerate at that sort of speed? It is certainly not something for the faint hearted.

I for one am very excited to see what these new ultra torquey electric vehicles will do to astound us next but one thing is for sure, the future of high performance vehicles is beginning to look like there will be more power cords rather than filler caps.