Fisker's Multi-Speed Gearbox Could Give EVs Supercar Performance

Electric cars can be fun to drive because they have all their power available at all speeds, which means incredibly quick acceleration. But until now, carmakers have been limited in the performance they can offer at higher speeds because current electric cars use one-speed motors. That means the incredible acceleration you get from the Fisker Karma or the Tesla Roadster is being achieved essentially in first gear.

Recently, Fisker's Chief Executive Officer Henrik Fisker boldly claimed that his company could offer "Veyron levels of performance," or the performance of the 1000-horsepower Bugatti Veyron supercar, if they could mate a multi-speed motor with the Fisker Karma.

The company's Karma model that is coming out this month offers 408 horsepower and 959 lb-ft of torque, but only gets from 0-60 in 5.8 seconds and maxes out at 125 miles per hour–half the performance one could expect from that kind of power in a combustion engine vehicle. A lot of that power is going to waste.