DR. HIROSHI SHIMIZU'S 190-MPH ELECTRIC CAR CONTRAPTION

摘要

It looks like a fiat multipla van done in the style of Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase. It seats eight people, has eight wheels, and weighs 3(1/4) tons. It's powered by 84 lithium-ion batteries. Behold―or at least try to get your noggin around―the KAZ, the Keio Advanced Zero-emission vehicle, 22 feet of out-of-the-box thinking by professor Hiroshi Shimizu of Tokyo's Keio University. The peculiar fruit of a five-year, $4 million project funded by the Japan Science and Technology Corporation, KAZ posts some pretty amazing numbers, including acceleration from o-to-62 mph in 7 seconds; a quarter-mile in 15 seconds; and a top speed of 193.3 mph during a session at the Nardo test track in Italy last year. At 62 mph it can cruise for almost 200 miles on a single, one-hour charge; Shimizu is working to double that.