A fully functional Infiniti Emerg-e attempted the famous hill-climb at the Goodwood festival of speed. The Emerg-e concept had made its debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. The Emerg-e is based on the Lotus Evora. The Emerg-e became possible with the help of the U.K. government’s technology strategy board, which provides funding for new electric vehicles in order to hasten the arrival of cars with low carbon emissions to the roads. With the use of this same funding, Lotus produced the Evora 414e concept, and Jaguar released the XJ_e, which can also be viewed at Goodwood. Twin-electric motors power the Emerg-e demonstrator, producing 402 hp.
This enables the car to go from zero to 60 mph in four seconds. The car can travel up to 30 miles emissions free. And then the three-cylinder 1.2-liter range-extender kicks in. This means that it only has a CO2 emissions rating of 55g/km. The motors are partnered with a single speed (XTRAC) transmission, resulting to the lowest drive line friction.
Jerry Hardcastle, vice-president of vehicle design and development, said that the Emerg-e is being used to study, investigate and demonstrate two things. The first is the potential of a mid-engine sportscar for the Infiniti range while the second is of a new range-extended powertrain. It was rumored that the Emerg-e would enter production. However, Infiniti has said that it is developing a halo mid-engine super car that is likely not to be the Emerg-e even if the technology used in this car would probably be used in the new vehicle.
