Although it remains a one-off concept car, the electric-powered Peugeot EX1 has added one more high-velocity honor to its competitive resume by turning a lap of Germany’s famed 12.9-mile Nurburgring-Nordschleife circuit in 9:01.338 seconds at an average speed of 85.95 mph (138.324 kph). In resetting the record for fastest EV around the fabled ‘Ring, the two-place Peugeot sports roadster handily shattered the previous mark of 9:51.45 seconds, set last year by the Mini E Race.
Unveiled last year at the Paris Auto Show as part of the automaker’s 100th Anniversary celebration, the all-wheel-drive EX1 is powered by a pair of electric motors, one at each axle, that turn out 167 horses and 177 lb-ft of torque apiece. This new EV speed mark was verified by WIGE Performance, which is the official timing body for the 73-corner Nordschleife “Green Hell” circuit.
Prior to racing its way into the record books at the Nurburgring, the Peugeot EX1 has established other EV speed benchmarks last year at the Linas-Montlhéry circuit in France and later at Chengdu military airport in China, a venue where it sprinted 0-60 mph in 3.49 seconds, recorded a 7.0862-second best in the one-eighth mile interval and needed just 12.6754 ticks to do the quarter mile.
