Toyota set a record for EVs at the Nurburgring race track last year. Its car did it in 7’47” or a fantastic time, which equals some of the very best gas sports car. But the car which did it was not a street car, it was a pure race car built on a Radical chassis (from the famous British maker). The car was fastest EV at Pikes Peak this summer, and it has just bettered its time at the Nurburgring.

The TMG EV P002 did it in 7’22″329, and that is an incredible time. Better than a Nissan GT-R or any other street car. The only cars that are faster are the Dodge Viper ACR, the Lexus LFA with the tailor-made Nurburgring package, or a Radical with a fast-revving V8 engine. The difference between gas and electric has gotten smaller, but it remains huge. The best time of a Radical, which has the same chassis as this electric Toyota, is half a minute quicker. Engineers still have a lot to do!

No doubt they’re working hard though, and they had something new at the track: a fast-discharging battery. But not in the car, in the truck, to charge the car’s battery. Because it may happen on a race that the car has to charge in a place where there is no electricity. An easy solution would be to use a small gas generator which can be found everywhere, but Toyota’s engineers, working with Schneider Electric, have developed a quick charging system around a battery. It fits in a van, and when the race car needs power, it will just plug into that system which will take the energy from the battery in the van to the battery in the race car. Sadly, Toyota doesn’t say a word about efficiency but we can’t expect a miracle here.