Protoscar Lampo 2

Many people still think of electric cars as new technology, but the men behind Protoscar have been working on EVs for more than 20 years. Protoscar is a Swiss company, located on the southern corner of the country, very close to Italy. (That's convenient for its Italian manager.) The company gained a lot of experience in the 90s during the VEL-1 project in Mendrisio, which was a live experiment of EV introduction in a small Swiss town. That started in 1994, when 400 electric vehicles (cars and motorbikes) were put into everyday use. The project was globally successful, but it didn't ended the way it should have, because the auto companies that were supposed to make electric cars cheap and available all failed to deliver on promises.

Protoscar Lampo

Yet, car manufacturers are still around. When they need help or advice on an electric drive system, they know they can count on Protoscar to find solutions. Protoscar grew based on providing service, until 2009 when it launched its first car, the Lampo. It's the blue car, which was followed by the yellow Lampo 2, the following year. Those two cars have been in various shows and events in Europe those past two years, earning praise everywhere because of their unique set-up—unique and better performing. Acceleration tests can prove it. If you go to a dragstrip, most cars are rear wheel drive (RWD), but sometimes a car with all wheel drive (AWD) shows up, always making faster launches than RWD cars with the same power. Just check the data on a Nissan GTR. The same is true for regenerating power during braking. Any car has larger brakes in front, and if power is to be regenerated, there's more to gain with the front wheels. That's why the Lampo cars have two electric motors, one for each axle, and are fully optimized for efficiency, giving stronger acceleration than a car with the same power from a single motor, and regenerating much more during braking. Oh, I forgot to say, these are extremely fast cars.

Most Efficient Electric Car in the World?

The blue Lampo has 200-kW and 325-lbs/ft of torque from its two motors, and the yellow Lampo² has 300-kW and 472-lbs/ft. I was fortunate enough to be invited to test drive the Lampo² (well, I was only 10 minutes behind the wheel), and it is a hugely impressive automobile. Its performance is nothing but awesome.

As fast as a Tesla Roadster? Faster than a Tesla? I can't say, but the cars are close, and you would need a track to find out which one is the fastest. I test drove the car in the city, and I was over the speed limit in no time. The electric motors give instant torque, the transmission sending it immediately to all four wheels, so you get off incredibly quick. I had more opportunity to test the four modes of the regenerative system, which you command through what were radio buttons on the steering wheel. That's because Protoscar didn't build the whole car. Both Lampo prototypes started as Opel GTs, which was the European version of the Pontiac Solstice. The pictures show that mostly everything has been changed, except for the folding roof, the windshield, the windows, some structural elements and interior parts.

Protoscar Lampo 1 and Lampo 2

So radio buttons commanded the regeneration system, while the power of both motors could be changed via the touch-screen computer of what was a navigation system. Why different power modes, you would ask? Safety. Protoscar designed some kind of a "valet parking" mode which reduces the power in case an unprepared driver ends up behind the wheel. It was quite easy to do, as everything is controlled by software, and I noticed the logo of the Windows Operating System on the computer screen during start up. What was difficult was optimizing the car's efficiency, and Protoscar says its Lampo 2 is world class, with an energy consumption of less than 160 Wh/mile under real world driving conditions! As both Lampo are hand-made prototypes, this is difficult to verify but this is about to change as something big is coming. It will be the Lampo 3, and this one will be available in limited numbers to discerning enthusiasts. Expect something super fast, yet incredibly efficient.