Go electric! A new uphill record was set at the 93rd running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, with an electric car crossing the finish line first at the race held on Sunday in Colorado.

With 42-year-old professional driver Rhys Millen behind the wheel, the Drive eO PP03 one-megawatt electric race car made it to the top of the mountain in just 9:07.022.

A new record was made — by a spilt second.

"This is a 4-wheel drive car sharing two independent motors... and we lost power to the rear motors before half way, which was really disappointing," Millen said. "But hey, we still got a record. I should put a smile on my face, but we were 30 seconds off target."

Developed by Latvian engineering company Drive eO, the PP03 is powered by a 50 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, and is equipped with six YASA-400 electric motors with in-house developed eO controllers, and has electrically assisted power steering. The electric car has a peak of 1,368 horse power, a peak torque of 2160 Nm, and can reach 162 miles per hour, with a kerb weight of 2,646 lbs.

Although it was the first time an electric car won at Pikes Peak, Millen was still almost a minute shy of the course record set by Sebastian Loeb in the Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak two years ago.

Known as The Race to the Clouds, Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is the second oldest motor racing event in the U.S. The race runs a 12.42-mile course that starts at an elevation of 9,390 feet. There are 156 turns along the way, and at Mile 7, cars drive one at time up the side of Pikes Peak, to finish the race at 14,110 feet.

Electric cars have the ability to go at as much power and torque in higher altitudes as they do at sea level — making them perfect contenders for racing this course.

Millen, in the eO PP03, finished over 20 seconds faster then Nobuhiro Tajima, who raced in a Tajima Motor car.

Watch Millen at the 2015 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the video below.

Via: Ars Technica

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