The Lightning GT was one of the world's first electric sports cars from England

First ONE In today's modern era, where the trend of electric vehicles is booming, and seem like to invite the players in the automotive industry, no exception ranging from big to small, as they are competing to develop such vehicles that are claimed to be environmentally friendly. And England, as one of the centers of the world's automotive industry, of course, is not left behind in the development of these cars.

The Lightning GT was one of the world's first electric sports cars from England. (Picture from: Supercars.net)

Since this is related to sports cars, you might ask, what is the first sports car from England? As quoted from Supercars.net, the Lightning GT was one of the UK’s first electric sports cars realesed by the Lightning Car Company, a London-based automaker, and unveiled for the first time to public in 2008 at the British International Motor Show.

The Lightning GT built by the Lightning Car Company,and unveiled for the first time to public in 2008 at the British International Motor Show. (Picture from: FootManJames)

Its story began, when the car firsty developed by the Ronart Cars small team, and built in just nine months based on its internal-combustion V8 engined car at the company's factory in Peterborough, UK, however, due to unforeseen circumstances that caused production to halt. In short, the business and trademark transformed into the Lightning Car Company in 2006.

The Lightning GT is sat on display at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, Warwickshire. (Picture from: BritishMotorMuseum)

It thanks to Iain Sanderson, one of the original buyers of the V8-powered Ronart Lightning sports car. It was at this point that a decision was made to relaunch the Lightning with an all-new and ultra-modern electric powertrain. The car is a ground up 100 per cent electric car (EV) with all new components, was initially predicted to be a Tesla' rival.

The Lightning GT started with a design sketch made by Daniel Durrant's DRIVE to be built as an electric-powered car from since the beginning. (Picture from: Supercars.net)

Unlike its then rival, the 1st Generation Tesla Roadster, which was built based on Lotus Elise chassis, the Lightning GT was conceived and built to be an electric-powered car from the outset. Well, this electric car from a British company started with a design sketch made by Daniel Durrant and his agency DRIVE.

The Lightning GT's cabin featured with advanced instrument panels and LCD touch screen in middle consol. (Picture from: OnlyCarsAndCars)

The Lightning GT featured with an innovative carbon fibre bodywork installed on the chassis and the floor of the pod are made of composite panels that contain aluminium honeycomb, made it worthy to be a true rival to the well-known electric Tesla Roadster back in the day.

The Lightning GT featured with an innovative carbon fibre bodywork installed on the chassis and the floor of the pod are made of composite panels that contain aluminium honeycomb. (Picture from: WeVee.uk)

Besides that, as a 100 per cent electric vehicle, the British-made sports GT equipped with high-grade Lithium Titanate batteries, which, at the time was an extremely advanced power supply. Performance-wise, the GT boasted from zero to 60 mph (100 kph) time of less than four seconds, with a top speed limited to 155 mph (300 kph).

The Lightning GT powered with an all-new ultra-modern electric motors supported by high-grade Lithium Titanate batteries. (Picture from: Supercars.net)

As quoted from FootManJames, it said only two units of the Lightning GT ever constructed by the British automaker company (one electric, other V8-powered), and the electric variant is currently on display at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, Warwickshire.

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Friday, May 5, 2023

The Lightning GT was one of the world's first electric sports cars from England