Supernova Electric Car Claims 620+ Mile Range

Currently, the longest range available on a pure electric production vehicle is the 265 miles range of the 85 kWh Tesla Model S. But an upstart car company in India claims to have developed a sports car which can go about 1000 kilometers (~621 miles) on a single charge.

Not to be confused with the Chevy Nova, the kit-car looking Supernova isn’t exactly as sporty as it’s name might lead you to believe, with a top speed of 150km/h (~93.2 mph), but it certainly can travel much further on its batteries than others, so it might be worth the tradeoff if you’re not a speed demon. The secret sauce of the Supernova is a three-tier battery system, which combines traditional lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries, as well as supercapacitors.

Recharge time for the Supernova is claimed to be 8 hours, though the Li-ion batteries reach their capacity in just 2 hours, and the supercapacitors juice up in just 5 minutes. It’s unclear if you can selectively charge these so you can drive on a quick charge.

At this point, a prototype of the Supernova has been developed and submitted to the Automotive Research Association of India for approval, and hopes to deliver its first cars in 2015. Its makers, Golden Arrow Wireless, expect the car to sell for somewhere between 15-25 Lahk Rupees – about $24,000 to 40,000(USD). While there’s a slim chance we’ll ever see the Supernova outside of India, their hybrid battery technology approach could prove interesting.

(Image via Vishwa Gujurat)