BRIGHT SPARKS
Formula 1 may have flicked the switch on TMG’s electric vehicle development, but it is the company’s drive which has spurred it to the forefront of electric motorsport and ultimately, road-going vehicles.
Although never raced in a Grand Prix, TOYOTA’s F1 KERS technology was rolled out in 2009 and proved to be very reliable during track testing. Building on this experience, TMG established the EV Technology Centre in Cologne following the withdrawal from F1.
Since then, a number of EVs have quietly driven out of the TMG facility in different guises. The centre provides development and integration of electric powertrains for motorsport and road- going vehicles, for TOYOTA and external clients.
TMG is a specialist in hardware and software for battery management, vehicle control electronics and energy management in association with its technology partners. This means TMG covers every aspect of EV development; a fact demonstrated by a record- breaking series of electric racing vehicles.
Claudia Brasse, TMG Executive Coordinator Strategic EV Development, explains the appeal of electric motorsport and the company’s approach: “In motorsport you have the
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most extreme conditions in which any car, any component must perform to its limit. It’s an ideal way to develop products that work flawlessly in daily life as well.
“We not only develop powertrains, but we also incorporate the infrastructure that goes with those as well as overall energy management. You can’t race a car without having efficient ways of recharging the batteries, for instance.”
Utilising that complete infrastructure, in 2011, TMG set a new lap record for an EV car at the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife with its TMG EV P001. A year later, the TMG EV P002, powered by a 470PS electric engine producing a maximum of 5,000rpm, combined with 900Nm of torque, smashed TMG’s own record by over 25 seconds. The 2012 record of 7:22.329 still stands today.
It was a year of records, as earlier that year TMG took the TMG EV P002 to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. A 19.99km track on a Colorado mountainside, Pikes Peak is one of the last ultimate tests of man and machine
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