back to article DeLorean goes electric for 2013 roll-out

Great Scott! Doc Brown's DeLorean has jumped back to the future production line and will roll out across roads from 2013. The Delorean Motor Company of Texas - which previously has focused on selling the car secondhand, and providing servicing and spares - is to produce an all-electric version of the famous gull-wing door …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anomalous Cowturd
    FAIL

    260hp, 125MPH.

    That's shit, that is!

    My two ton Volvo goes faster than that...

    Allegedly. ;o)

    1. Boothy

      Electric cars have limiters fitted, as the bottle neck is usually how much juice you can get out of the batteries without damaging them.

      So top speed is based on the Max Power output of the battery pack, rather than what the motor could actually achieve.

    2. MrT

      It's better than...

      ... the original - IIRC that topped out at 110mph. Renault V6 couldn't shift the (relatively) heavy body - it might look a bit like an Esprit, what with Giugiaro designing both, but the Chapman 'add lightness' didn't translate.

  2. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Coat

    But will it do time travel?

    Or can it not hit 88 mph?

    1. CmdrX3
      Boffin

      Sadly, no. As stated in the article the flux capacitor is not included. Maybe they will release it as an optional extra at some point in the future ;-)

    2. Marvin the Martian
      Holmes

      Speaking of time travel,

      It's like being back in 2000 when people thought it a good idea to get a built-in GPS.

      I remember my sister around 2003 spending about 1000quid on one that was hilariously outdated after 2y or so, low res/ stupid+slow/ monocolour/ limited. And the maps didn't really update themselves either.

  3. Ian Stephenson
    WTF?

    Rather poor

    For 260 bhp I would expect something a little faster than 125mph, maybe around 160.

    It must weigh in at several tonnes.

    Given it's also American built the handling will be appalling.

    To quote the great DNA "Looks like a fish, moves like a fish, steers like a cow."

    1. Silverburn
      Happy

      Fixed it for you...

      Given it's also American built the handling will be appalling, the ride will be dreadful (especially with a ton of batteries onboard), it will be heavy enough to generate it's own gravity, it will look hideous and will rattle to pieces before 10,000 miles.

      1. Cazzo Enorme

        "will rattle to pieces before 10,000 miles"

        Well before 10,000 miles based on my experience of a Ford Mustang. Picked the thing up from the car hire car with a couple of hundred miles on the clock. Three months later I dropped it back, by which time the suspension was knackered. I can hardly say I had thrashed the thing, as I only used it to commute to work within Santa Clara (straight roads on a grid plan). Probably a good thing it was such straight roads, as the handling was appalling.

      2. richard 7
        FAIL

        Its all academic

        About once avery 3 years we get all this roumour about a 'New DeLorean' and nothing ever happens. DMC2 kicked about for years and nothing happened, the re-release of the DMC12 is yet to happen....

        And if they havent changed the geometry/setup from the DMC12 it'll be bloody awful to drive. Wanted one for years, got one, and it handles/performs like an old Routemaster bus and is a pig to keep clean. As for 88.8mph HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

        Unless the other issues are sorted not ta (For reference other issues include every major part bar the steering wheel, thats been OK so far....)

  4. ybird

    still wouldn't persuade me to get an iphone

  5. Mike Sullivan
    Thumb Up

    This is heavy !

    I have no idea why, as the original was not known for being a good car... but I really want one.

  6. Silverburn
    Boffin

    Ergonomics...

    ...don't try to adjust your heater controls while your iphone in plugged in. Lets hope they revisit that before 2013.

    I can understand the slowness; 260bhp combined with a reasonable electric range (which is not in the article btw) = massive, heavy battery.

    1. Evil Auditor Silver badge

      No, they won't. But you can download the free Heater Control App!

  7. slyos
    Thumb Up

    How fun is that a time machine running electricaly. is GPS very usefull for such travel ?

    Posted from a Virtual Private Desktop "VPU"

    1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge

      Of course

      If you are traveling back and forward by a few years, otherwise slap a compass on the screen

  8. John70

    Electric Power

    Is it powered by Mr. Fusion?

    1. Rob Beard
      Thumb Up

      Coming 2015

      I hear the Mr Fusion upgrade is scheduled in for some time in 2015 along with the hover conversion :-)

      Rob

    2. stucs201

      We must be on the wrong time-line.

      According to the doc, in film 3, Mr Fusion was only for the time circuits, the car itself always ran on 'gasoline'. An electric version would imply we're heading for the wrong 2015, bet our version doesn't even have flying cars:-(.

  9. Bo Pedersen
    Megaphone

    Shut up and take my money!

    stop being so pre-disposed with speed, weight and cost, its a Leccy DeLorean!!! how is that EVER a problem?

    Now add a Mr Fusion and it will be perfect.

  10. Christoph
    Boffin

    Still with gull-wing doors?

    Does this mean that they still have not fixed - in fact they have deliberately retained - the major problem with the design?

    How do you get in and out of the car when it is in a car-park with other cars close alongside, making it impossible to fully open those doors?

    1. Yag

      This is also one of the main signature of the design...

    2. mark 63 Silver badge
      Boffin

      @Christoph , re gullwings

      They have actually retained a very innovative safety feature which does the opposite of what you suggest . The car John Delorean copied from (which looked pretty much the same) was tagged the "worlds safest car". It even came in colourslabelled 'safety green' , ' safety red' etc

      The gullwing doors were put there explicitly to make opening the doors easier when in close proximity to something else (e.g in a crash) Those doors extend from the car only 6 inches on their way up, whereas if you open a normal car door six inches you couldnt get a sheet of paper out , never mind a person!

      probly dont work too well if its on its roof though :)

      1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
        Joke

        "... whereas if you open a normal car door six inches you couldnt get a sheet of paper out , never mind a person!"

        Certainly not certain American persons

      2. Paul Westerman
        Thumb Up

        the Bricklin SV-1

        is, I suspect, the car you're referring to. It's gull wings open and close themselves!

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bricklin_SV-1

      3. Peter Ford

        Explosive bolts

        The Mercedes solution to the problem of how to open the doors when it's on its roof...

    3. David Robinson 1

      If you watch this video (1:00 in) you can see how much clearance is required for the doors to open:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8bP2njGfpY

  11. Wize

    Can we have a dock for other MP3 players too?

    I refuse to buy anything with an iPhone dock, but I don't see there being a problem here.

    That thing will be an oven on hot days unless they have sorted the window problem.

    1. WonkoTheSane
      Coat

      Agreed re fruit-connector

      Just go with a standard USB socket, like my Vauxhall.

      Aircon will suck the batteries dry, but we'd only need it 3 days a year!

      TL;DR = WANT!

      (Mines the one with the Palestinian Plutonium in the pocket)

  12. Joe Carter

    Top speed

    Electric cars tend to have a relatively low top speed for their power as they're normally single geared. The motors can rev up to 16k rpm but the torque drops off after 7k.

    http://www.teslamotors.com/models/features#/performance

    So they have awesome acceleration but the top end drops off. For real road use it's a non-issue.

  13. Rameses Niblick the Third (KKWWMT)

    I simply don't care

    The doors are a major design flaw, the windows don't open enough, its heavy, handles badly and is chronically expensive.

    And you know what? I don't care, I just want one!

    1. chr0m4t1c

      Truly it is the iPhone of cars.

  14. ShadowTD
    FAIL

    So much fail in these comments!

    Firstly, the chassis for the production DMC-12 owes more to the Lotus Esprit of the time, given it was design by Lotus. The DeLorean has always been quite a reasonable handler for a rear-wheel drive chassis of that era. Secondly, the gull wing doors open in significantly *less* space than a standard door. Look at where they're hinged - not at the edge of the roofline but practically in the middle.

    The top speed is probably limited due to stability issues over that speed. You know, for safety.

    Any other morons want to chime in?

    1. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      hmm

      So what your saying is buy a Lotus?

      Good idea

    2. Giddy Kipper
      Trollface

      @ShadowTD

      Nice first post, I'm sure all the 'morons' here appreciated it.

  15. Captain TickTock
    WTF?

    More than 1.21 Gigawatts for a real car???

    I know american cars trade muscle for refinement, but isn't that a little OTT, even for them?

  16. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

    <220kW

    There are plenty of definitions of horse power, but for a car motor, 260hp is probably a little over 190kW. Electric motors that size are usually 90-95% efficient so with 1.21GW, you can power well over 5000 DeLoreans.

    The first GPS satellite was launched in 1978, so GPS would be useless before that. Until 1989, there were only ten satellites. You need to be able to see 3 satelites to do anything useful (4 if you want to know your altitude). If you need GPS in the 1980's, get a hover conversion. You stand a better chance of seeing satelites if the signals do not have to go sideways through a thick atmosphere, some hills, buildings or a wet leaf.

  17. Charlie van Becelaere
    Paris Hilton

    This is not an American Car

    This is to be built in the Republic of Texas - a whole nother country, as their tourism adverts recently had it.

    Paris, because I'm hoping the plant will be in Paris, Texas.

This topic is closed for new posts.