Protoscar estimates the Lampo costs a million Euro. Larger production volumes would probably bring the price down to a third of that, but Protoscar is no car maker, so there are no plans to actually produce the car for sale. The purpose of the Lampo prototype is to showcase what can be done with available and nearly available technology. Obviously it would be extremely unfair to evaluate it the same way you would a regular car from a known manufacturer, so let's do just that.

Driving the Lampo is not that different from driving any other car, apart from the lack of a gearbox. The "central selector," as it's called here, allows you to choose forward drive or reverse. There's also an "E"-mode where the car will brake using mainly the torque of the electric motors, maximizing the energy recovery. This is not intended for regular braking, but works brilliantly holding speed constant or slowing down while driving downhill. The Lampo's main problem is that this is basically the only feature of the car that works as it's supposed to.

If you spend a six-figured amount on a car, you'll want it to fire on all cylinders or whatever that translates to in EV-speak. The Lampo doesn't. In theory its twin motors and battery packs running the front and back wheels separately are good for 268 HP and 325 Lb-Ft of torque, but for "technical reasons" the power output has to be limited to somewhere in the region of 60 % during our test drive. Maximum speed is supposed to be over 125 MPH, but it's been restricted to 75 MPH. Hard acceleration is also out of the question, as that may upset the batteries and cause all sorts of problems. Problems like fire.

Add to that the fact sharp right turns will make the inside of the fender eat into the right front tire, the giant red emergency stop button is cleverly placed on top of the armrest, right where your arm rests, and the seriously multifunctional dashboard display, which is completely unreadable unless you pull over to take a closer look at it. The multi-function screen in the mid-console should be able to show remaining range after calculating the road's undulations, but is, in fact, not able to do that at all. What it will do is let you turn power steering on and off, if you can find the right submenu.

Our initial plan was to give the miracle car from the future a good thrashing on badly maintained roads around Stavanger, Norway, but that was before we had to sign a paper accepting personal economic responsibility if we crash, abuse or destroy any of the half-magic/half-functional electronics. Adjusting plans to reality, we end up driving what turns out to be a still quite powerful, but only semi-functional EV around town with a brief run on the highway. That's still enough to reveal that the brakes aren't powerful enough and going at slow speeds it's hard to tell what the front wheels are up to through the steering wheel. Other than that the car is ok, but not anywhere near what the specs promise.

All in all, speaking in pure car terms, it's safe to say that Protoscar has done an epic job at wasting $1.4 million.

On the other hand, even at half power and with all sorts of malfunctions, the Lampo is one impressive ride. You just have to look at the bigger picture. The car itself is just one of the pieces in Protoscar and its partner's vision of the future. Along with the Lampo they're also developing stuff such like an intelligent charging system and in, Tuscany, Italy, they've even set up a solar plant producing energy for 62,000 miles-worth of driving per year.

It's this idea that producing a car also includes producing and providing the energy needed to run it that's the most important feature of the Lampo. As a product it's nowhere near market-ready, but as an idea of future green motoring, it holds promise.

- Ivar Kvadsheim

Ivar is the editor of the best Norwegian motorcycle magazine on the internet, MC24.no

What makes this electric car, utilizing electric motors in the front and back to give it AWD capabilities, solar-powered is a small solar plant in Seggiano, Italy. In theory, the electricity you buy to power the roadster is offset by production in Italy. Unfortunately, the output of the plant is just 16 kWp, meaning the most it can produce power-wise is less than what the car needs.

Claims aside, it's not a bad looking little car.

Protoscar unveils the unique features of "LAMPO": the electric sporty showcar powered by renewable energy.

Protoscar SA will unveil LAMPO - a full size sport cabriolet - at the next Geneva Motor Show on March 2nd, 2009 (stand 5141 in the e-mobile area). LAMPO is powered by two BRUSA electric motors (one rear and one front), optimized for maximizing acceleration and regenerative braking respectively. They deliver a total output of 268 HP and a torque of over 440 Nm. The lightweight Lithium-Ion battery pack with a capacity of 32 kWh allows for a range of over 200 km. LAMPO shows that also a zero-emission electric vehicle can offer the same performance as a traditional sporty car.

The primary energy source used for charging the LAMPO has been in existence for more than 4.5 billion years and has demonstrated to be rather reliable: it's the sun. The exploitation of solar energy for LAMPO is possible thanks to a 16 kWp photovoltaic plant located in Seggiano, Tuscany.

Never before a premium driving pleasure like the one of the LAMPO has been achieved at such an optimal level of overall "Well-to-Wheel" energy efficiency - and zero emissions. However, even if the LAMPO was "filled up" with today's
particularly clean Swiss electricity mix, the WtW CO2 emissions of this vehicle would only account for about 7 g/km! Considering the EU electricity mix projection scenario for 2020, elaborated by Eurelectric, the WtW CO2 emission would still be limited to about 40 g/km.

Through the showcar LAMPO, Protoscar and its partners aim to demonstrate new technologies which include absolute innovations such as "intelligent charging" or interactive GPS-based "range estimator" – and discuss potential applications
together with car manufacturers, in order to implement these solutions into their plans for future CleanCars.

In depth Protoscar
Protoscar SA (www.protoscar.com) is a design company founded in 1987 specialized in CleanCars and based in Rovio (Ticino, Switzerland). It presently employs 14 specialists. We act like a "Minergie-architect", but apply the efficiency-concepts to cars, mainly by introducing electrification. Our unique experience and holistic approach allow us not only to develop forward looking strategies and outstanding vehicle concepts, but also to support the market introduction of
CleanCars and the communication activity of these technologies. We are proud to include worldwide companies like Daimler AG, GeneralMotors, Rinspeed-Esoro and Nissan among our faithful clients.

Vehicle‘s name and logo
LAMPO, in the Italian language means "lightning". A lightning stands for power, especially for electric energy like the one propelling LAMPO. Moreover a lightning is fast, intense, impressive and, last but not least, LAMPO is a product of nature. The edgy logo of LAMPO with its straight lines reminds the lightening and emphasizes the
electric spirit of the car.
eQmotion and clean energy
eQmotion (www.eqmotion.ch) is a "philosophy", made reality by a consortium of companies supporting and implementing EV-projects. Actually this pool is developing exciting innovative full electric vehicles.

The name eQmotion is an acronym composed by:
• electric
• Quotient (of electrification) / Quality
• motion

Our showcars shall have an eQ of 100: we want to drive 100% electrically, trying to overcome the "compromises" in terms of Well to Wheel emissions and efficiency. Also, driving cars - and particularly electric vehicles - has a lot to do with e(Q)motions. We pursue a high vehicle and component Quality relying on most recent technical standards and innovations, in order to maximize emotional driving pleasure. The label eQmotion has been created by BRUSA Elektronik AG and Protoscar SA and will be used on different EV-projects. The first two showcars realized under this label are
Spyder and LAMPO. The eQmotion philosophy integrates of course energetic considerations. We are not just
realizing zero emission vehicles, but we care about the energy needed to let them move. In other words we look at the entire energy chain that a vehicle requires: this is the so called "Well-to-Wheel" (see file "WtW_Definitions.jpg"). On the entire energy chain the attention is focused on the reduction of CO2 emissions. The energy used by these vehicles
comes from 100% renewable energy sources (solar energy in LAMPO's case).

The exploitation of solar power has been possible thanks to a remote 16 kWh photovoltaic plant located in Seggiano (Tuscany) in the facility of the farmhouse of Vitabella Palazzetto (www.vitabella-palazzetto.com). The energy produced by this system is put into the global grid and charged into LAMPO's batteries not perforce where the photovoltaic plant is located. The goal is to self-produce all the energy that we need for the car getting to counterbalance the entire consumption (see file "Electricity_Management.jpg"). Never before a premium driving pleasure like the one of the LAMPO has been possible at such a level of overall "Well-to-Wheel" energy efficiency (see file "Comparison_WtW.jpg").

Innovative top-down approach
With LAMPO we clearly apply a top-down approach, instead of a bottom-up strategy. In fact, the automobile sector is normally based on this approach which consists in initially showing trendy characteristics in exclusive, premium, vehicles. Unavoidably, at first the price of such products is very high but with growing production the prices decrease,
allowing a large number of people to have access to the new technology (in other words the first buyers allow the technology to circulate). In the electric vehicles market the approach - still very often - is viceversa based on a bottom-up approach. This is the reason why electric vehicles are not always very successful. In today's market the majority of the EV promoters try to sell electric cars as a "rational vehicle" and forget the emotional aspects. But as a matter of fact, for most buyers a car is essentially an emotional object and not only a means of transport. The LAMPO shall demonstrate that electric drivetrains can be perceived positively and totally accepted if placed and launched in a different way.

Unique features
The research and practical presentation of new, more efficient energy features is carried out in cooperation with various partners and relates to several areas:
Intelligent charging system
Some charging parameters like the earliest charging time/last charging stop, max.
Charging yield and charging status to be achieved by the end of charging, will regulate the onboard chargers.

The user of the vehicle is able to choose and set - directly in the vehicle - some charging parameters which will control the onboard battery charger, e.g.
- Earliest charging time/ latest charging stop
- Maximum charging yield
- Charging status to be achieved by end of the charging

Accelerated charge (for public and private charging points)
With today's European energy supply standard (typically 240V and 10 to 16Amps) the charging time for an EV vehicle like the LAMPO is around 12 hours (considering a 16Amps plug): the typical available overnight time. In fact, with a small extra-investment, this time could be half: with very small adaptations (basically 2,5 mm2 cable instead of 1,5 mm2
connections, and a little on/off electronic switch avoiding current-flow during the plug-in action) a 16Amps plug easily can be upgraded to deliver 32Amps, meaning a power of 7 kW. The resulting charging time will then still not be as fast as for liquid fuels, but interesting enough for significantly recharging the batteries over lunch or shopping time,
and allowing a shifting of the charging time – during nights - into periods where energy is available over-abundantly. Such energy supply optimizations are studied and developed in association with Alpiq (www.alpiq.com), the Swiss energy leader.

Public charging & payment system
Several highly sophisticated public charging stations, including power metering and billing per chip cards or other techniques, have been proposed recently, yet their relatively high investment cost - causing also high cost per kWh delivered - does not facilitate their widespread application. In order to avoid high cost of metering and billing the "Park & Charge" concept has been created (www.ecs-five.ch/parkcharge/d/index.htm). It is a very simple system, and it is
based on a lump-sum payment, combining low investment cost with low operation cost – exactly like it happens with the well known yearly "sticker" allowing to pay for the use of Swiss highways. This service is offered by the Swiss Electric Vehicle Association (ECS) and has been in operation for over 10 years, counting 600 charging points all over
Switzerland. At the moment, in EU, there are 1346 public charging points: over 100 of them are "Park and Charge". A detailed list of public charging points in Switzerland and Europe is available at: www.lemnet.org.

EVA Range estimator
For a battery-driven vehicle the accuracy of the possible autonomy is absolutely important, and with a simple 0 -100% indicator, it is impossible to determine. This depends on several highly variable factors, e.g. topography (upward/downward slopes) or environmental temperature. These variances should be included in the residual autonomy indication – but they are not considered in today's EVs. Thanks to an interactive advanced navigation system, a LAMPO driver is provided with the following information:- "radar graph" of the residual range integrated with standard navigation capabilities- charging station location - advanced long-distance trip planning which incorporates charging time and recommended locations. The EVA system is being developed in cooperation with Virve, W&B (www.virve.ch).

All wheel drive for max. regenerative braking & safety
When accelerating, the load is shifted to the rear axle while in braking it moves to the front axle. More load is on an axle, more successfully the traction can be transferred to the wheels. If the two electric motors can have differential tasks (primarily to pull or primarily to regenerate) the total efficiency of the vehicle can be considerably increased. This is
exactly what we will demonstrate and – thanks to axles which can be singularly disconnected – also tested for comparison. This optimized traction system has been conceived, developed and implemented together with the company BRUSA (www.brusa.biz).

Photo Credit: autoblog.nl

Speedy electric cars are old-hat by now with the occasionally produced Tesla Roadster being first to market, but an all-wheel-drive EV is something new. The LAMPO takes advantage of two electric motors, one front, one rear, to translate energy from the 32 kWh lithium ion batteries into motive power. It does all the other tricks an EV does like regenerative braking, fast charging on high voltage and such, but it's where that power comes which makes the LAMPO a novel concept.

Protocar claims the LAMPO concept is mated to a solar power plant in Seggiano, Tuscany capable of 16 kilowatts peak output. The power is fed to the grid system and offsets energy used by the cars instead of being powered off the non-renewable tainted general power system. "But Jalopnik..." you say, "if the cars have 32 kWh batteries, doesn't that mean the plant will only be able to charge one car in optimum conditions in two hours, and transmission losses will mean it will take even longer to charge just one car completely by solar power?"

Sssshhhhhh, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Expect to see complete details on what is more than likely some very nicely greenwashed vaporware when it debuts next week at the Geneva Motor Show.

Protoscar unveils the unique features of "LAMPO": the electric sporty showcar powered by renewable energy.
Protoscar SA will unveil LAMPO - a full size sport cabriolet - at the next Geneva Motor Show on March 2nd, 2009 (stand 5141 in the e-mobile area). LAMPO is powered by two BRUSA electric motors (one rear and one front), optimized for maximizing acceleration and regenerative braking respectively. They deliver a total output of 268 HP and a torque of over 440 Nm. The lightweight Lithium-Ion battery pack with a capacity of 32 kWh allows for a range of over 200 km. LAMPO shows that also a zero-emission electric vehicle can offer the same performance as a traditional sporty car.

The primary energy source used for charging the LAMPO has been in existence for more than 4.5 billion years and has demonstrated to be rather reliable: it's the sun. The exploitation of solar energy for LAMPO is possible thanks to a 16 kWp photovoltaic plant located in Seggiano, Tuscany.

Never before a premium driving pleasure like the one of the LAMPO has been achieved at such an optimal level of overall "Well-to-Wheel" energy efficiency - and zero emissions. However, even if the LAMPO was "filled up" with today's
particularly clean Swiss electricity mix, the WtW CO2 emissions of this vehicle would only account for about 7 g/km! Considering the EU electricity mix projection scenario for 2020, elaborated by Eurelectric, the WtW CO2 emission would still be limited to about 40 g/km.

Through the showcar LAMPO, Protoscar and its partners aim to demonstrate new technologies which include absolute innovations such as "intelligent charging" or interactive GPS-based "range estimator" – and discuss potential applications
together with car manufacturers, in order to implement these solutions into their plans for future CleanCars.

In depth Protoscar
Protoscar SA (www.protoscar.com) is a design company founded in 1987 specialized in CleanCars and based in Rovio (Ticino, Switzerland). It presently employs 14 specialists. We act like a "Minergie-architect", but apply the efficiency-concepts to cars, mainly by introducing electrification. Our unique experience and holistic approach allow us not only to develop forward looking strategies and outstanding vehicle concepts, but also to support the market introduction of
CleanCars and the communication activity of these technologies. We are proud to include worldwide companies like Daimler AG, GeneralMotors, Rinspeed-Esoro and Nissan among our faithful clients.

Vehicle‘s name and logo
LAMPO, in the Italian language means "lightning". A lightning stands for power, especially for electric energy like the one propelling LAMPO. Moreover a lightning is fast, intense, impressive and, last but not least, LAMPO is a product of nature. The edgy logo of LAMPO with its straight lines reminds the lightening and emphasizes the
electric spirit of the car.
eQmotion and clean energy
eQmotion (www.eqmotion.ch) is a "philosophy", made reality by a consortium of companies supporting and implementing EV-projects. Actually this pool is developing exciting innovative full electric vehicles.

The name eQmotion is an acronym composed by:
• electric
• Quotient (of electrification) / Quality
• motion

Our showcars shall have an eQ of 100: we want to drive 100% electrically, trying to overcome the "compromises" in terms of Well to Wheel emissions and efficiency. Also, driving cars - and particularly electric vehicles - has a lot to do with e(Q)motions. We pursue a high vehicle and component Quality relying on most recent technical standards and innovations, in order to maximize emotional driving pleasure. The label eQmotion has been created by BRUSA Elektronik AG and Protoscar SA and will be used on different EV-projects. The first two showcars realized under this label are
Spyder and LAMPO. The eQmotion philosophy integrates of course energetic considerations. We are not just
realizing zero emission vehicles, but we care about the energy needed to let them move. In other words we look at the entire energy chain that a vehicle requires: this is the so called "Well-to-Wheel" (see file "WtW_Definitions.jpg"). On the entire energy chain the attention is focused on the reduction of CO2 emissions. The energy used by these vehicles
comes from 100% renewable energy sources (solar energy in LAMPO's case).

The exploitation of solar power has been possible thanks to a remote 16 kWh photovoltaic plant located in Seggiano (Tuscany) in the facility of the farmhouse of Vitabella Palazzetto (www.vitabella-palazzetto.com). The energy produced by this system is put into the global grid and charged into LAMPO's batteries not perforce where the photovoltaic plant is located. The goal is to self-produce all the energy that we need for the car getting to counterbalance the entire consumption (see file "Electricity_Management.jpg"). Never before a premium driving pleasure like the one of the LAMPO has been possible at such a level of overall "Well-to-Wheel" energy efficiency (see file "Comparison_WtW.jpg").

Innovative top-down approach
With LAMPO we clearly apply a top-down approach, instead of a bottom-up strategy. In fact, the automobile sector is normally based on this approach which consists in initially showing trendy characteristics in exclusive, premium, vehicles. Unavoidably, at first the price of such products is very high but with growing production the prices decrease,
allowing a large number of people to have access to the new technology (in other words the first buyers allow the technology to circulate). In the electric vehicles market the approach - still very often - is viceversa based on a bottom-up approach. This is the reason why electric vehicles are not always very successful. In today's market the majority of the EV promoters try to sell electric cars as a "rational vehicle" and forget the emotional aspects. But as a matter of fact, for most buyers a car is essentially an emotional object and not only a means of transport. The LAMPO shall demonstrate that electric drivetrains can be perceived positively and totally accepted if placed and launched in a different way.

Unique features
The research and practical presentation of new, more efficient energy features is carried out in cooperation with various partners and relates to several areas:
Intelligent charging system
Some charging parameters like the earliest charging time/last charging stop, max.
Charging yield and charging status to be achieved by the end of charging, will regulate the onboard chargers.

The user of the vehicle is able to choose and set - directly in the vehicle - some charging parameters which will control the onboard battery charger, e.g.
- Earliest charging time/ latest charging stop
- Maximum charging yield
- Charging status to be achieved by end of the charging

Accelerated charge (for public and private charging points)
With today's European energy supply standard (typically 240V and 10 to 16Amps) the charging time for an EV vehicle like the LAMPO is around 12 hours (considering a 16Amps plug): the typical available overnight time. In fact, with a small extra-investment, this time could be half: with very small adaptations (basically 2,5 mm2 cable instead of 1,5 mm2
connections, and a little on/off electronic switch avoiding current-flow during the plug-in action) a 16Amps plug easily can be upgraded to deliver 32Amps, meaning a power of 7 kW. The resulting charging time will then still not be as fast as for liquid fuels, but interesting enough for significantly recharging the batteries over lunch or shopping time,
and allowing a shifting of the charging time – during nights - into periods where energy is available over-abundantly. Such energy supply optimizations are studied and developed in association with Alpiq (www.alpiq.com), the Swiss energy leader.

Public charging & payment system
Several highly sophisticated public charging stations, including power metering and billing per chip cards or other techniques, have been proposed recently, yet their relatively high investment cost - causing also high cost per kWh delivered - does not facilitate their widespread application. In order to avoid high cost of metering and billing the "Park & Charge" concept has been created (www.ecs-five.ch/parkcharge/d/index.htm). It is a very simple system, and it is
based on a lump-sum payment, combining low investment cost with low operation cost – exactly like it happens with the well known yearly "sticker" allowing to pay for the use of Swiss highways. This service is offered by the Swiss Electric Vehicle Association (ECS) and has been in operation for over 10 years, counting 600 charging points all over
Switzerland. At the moment, in EU, there are 1346 public charging points: over 100 of them are "Park and Charge". A detailed list of public charging points in Switzerland and Europe is available at: www.lemnet.org.

EVA Range estimator
For a battery-driven vehicle the accuracy of the possible autonomy is absolutely important, and with a simple 0 -100% indicator, it is impossible to determine. This depends on several highly variable factors, e.g. topography (upward/downward slopes) or environmental temperature. These variances should be included in the residual autonomy indication – but they are not considered in today's EVs. Thanks to an interactive advanced navigation system, a LAMPO driver is provided with the following information:- "radar graph" of the residual range integrated with standard navigation capabilities- charging station location - advanced long-distance trip planning which incorporates charging time and recommended locations. The EVA system is being developed in cooperation with Virve, W&B (www.virve.ch).

All wheel drive for max. regenerative braking & safety
When accelerating, the load is shifted to the rear axle while in braking it moves to the front axle. More load is on an axle, more successfully the traction can be transferred to the wheels. If the two electric motors can have differential tasks (primarily to pull or primarily to regenerate) the total efficiency of the vehicle can be considerably increased. This is
exactly what we will demonstrate and – thanks to axles which can be singularly disconnected – also tested for comparison. This optimized traction system has been conceived, developed and implemented together with the company BRUSA (www.brusa.biz).

[Source: Protoscar]

The aerodynamically styled roadster is allegedly powered by two electric motors — the front optimized for regenerative braking, the rear for acceleration — and using a 35kWh Lithium-Ion battery pack, Protoscar says its new Lamp makes 268 HP and 325 lb-ft of torque, the latter available from 0 RPM. Since standard European outlets are more progressive than their American counterparts, offering 220v of sweet nuclear electricity as standard, quick recharges are available across the continent.

Protoscar says it plans to release more images and info nearer to the Geneva Motor Show. Maybe it’s time Jalopnik got in on the juicing green-targeted venture capital for all its worth game too.