Electric Supercar, the Italdesign Quaranta

Motor Trend recently had an exclusive test drive of an outrageous new electric car, the Italdesign Quaranta.

This futuristic, fighter jet canopied car features a central driver's seating position and was designed by the same man who brought us the Lamborghini Gallardo. Instead of a roaring V-10, the Quaranta makes a lot of noise by making none at all.

The Quaranta is indeed a mid engine car, one sporting all wheel drive. It is entirely overwhelming in design quality, concept, and execution. And unlike most show ponies, this one is built to be driven as it most certainly was less than 60 days after making it's show circuit debut.

Italdesign and Toyota have a great relationship, so it's no surprise that the powertrain is sourced from the Lexus RX 400h. Toyota provided the 3.3-liter DOHC V-6 engine, electric-motor assist hardware, continuously variable transmission, and all-wheel-drive system, but the rest of the car has all been hand crafted by Italdesign.

The 3100 pound green muscle machine is rated at 268 total horsepower. Battery charging is assisted by Toyota's regenerative braking system and also by solar panels affixed to the car's front and rear horizontal surfaces. As functional and styling elements, the panels generate an additional 250 watts of free power, so long as the sun is shining.

The twin fuel tanks hold a total of about 16 gallons of gas and offer a claimed range of over 600 miles. That equates to around 37.5 mpg. 0-60 comes in around 5.6 seconds or so. This is no Lambo beater, but it does get roughly 3.5 times the gas mileage, after all.
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