TFL recently went to a day of the 100th annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb practice sessions and caught up with some of the head honchos from the Acura 4-Motor EV Concept racing team, including its chief engineer, Yutaka Horiuchi. By speaking through a translator, we interviewed Horiuchi-san on the possibility of the all-electric Acura NSX EV Concept making it to production someday. His response was translated simply as “it is in our vision.”
The concept car is powered by four electric motors, one at each corner, each of an undisclosed amount of power. Driven by veteran driver Tetsuya Yamano, the 4-Motor EV Concept finished third overall and second in the Electric Modified Division. Electric vehicles managed to grab three of the top five overall spots this year. Given their success racing up the hill, it’s no wonder Honda is keeping the EV Concept in its vision… even if only to learn more about the use of electric motors as the sole means to propel a vehicle. A Tesla Model S P90D also managed to get first in the Electric Production class.
Also at Pikes Peak this year was a duo of NSXs that competed in the slightly modified and heavily modified classes. The slightly modified car that raced in the Time Attack 2 Production class finished first in its division, while the more aggressive Time Attack 1 category kept the more heavily modified Acura NSX held to 13th place in its class.
7/8/2016 update – TFL received correspondence from Acura: “The translator is referring to the powertrain/4-motor system when she translates the questions, and that is what the engineer’s response adheres to. Not a 4-motor NSX, per se, but “it is in our vision” to commercialize
4-motor technology.”
