Mumbai: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay Racing Team will be launching its all-electric race car designed and developed by the students who describe it as the fastest Indian electric race car both in terms of acceleration and speed.

“Orca is the culmination of eight years of technological innovation and is designed to reach a maximum speed of 160+km/h and an acceleration of 0-100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds,” says Archit Sanadhya, IIT Bombay Racing. “This makes the car faster than models of Lamborghini, Porsche and other international sports cars.”

Orca represents the cutting edge of sustainable technology and innovation and is the fifth electric car — after Evo 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and Evo-4.0 — developed by the students for Formula races. “Orca has evolved through the years and the technology used in this one is different from previous cars,” he adds.

Orca will now race in Formula Student (UK), the international parallel of Formula One at the engineering college level, to be held in Silverstone Racing Circuit near London in July. The IIT team here is proud that they are the only ones to successfully develop an electric car and present it at Formula Student, Europe’s biggest educational motorsport event.

The annual event run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers attracts 95 teams representing universities from all corners of the globe. It challenges students to design, build and race a one man, open-wheeled race car assuming that they have been engaged by a manufacturing firm to produce a prototype car for evaluation as a potential production item. It is at Silverstone that the teams will demonstrate to the judges, in a series of events, that the car is fit for purpose as well as presenting a business plan that sells their concept to potential investors.

The Orca race car weighs 242kg, lighter than the previous year’s Evo 4.0 which weighed 302kg. It is powered by 400-volt battery and is completely indigenous except for the “motor engine that has been ordered from Germany”. The race car project cost Rs4.5 million.

Students say what makes it truly special is its true blue ‘Make In Indian’ roots. The car will be unveiled at the IIT campus on Sunday where a technical presentation of its features will be followed by a campus run of the car.

Some of the sponsors of the project include NRB Bearings, CEAT tyres, and Godrej.