The company

Metropolia is Finland’s largest university of applied sciences. Metropolia coordinated a project with a consortium of companies to design an electrical sports car that took 2nd prize in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE in USA 2010.

The challenge

To build a safe, affordable and desirable car with at least 100 MPGe energy efficiency. The car has to complete on-track tests, comply with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and complete validation testing on a chassis dynamometer.

The solution

Our hardware interface EB 6120 and SimTools were used to develop an electric vehicle control software that controlled four independent electrical drives, one per wheel. Drives are controlled independently to avoid mechanical gearboxes and transmission. Our EB 6120 was also used to control battery charging.

About the vehicle

Electric-RaceAbout, “E-RA”, is the current prototype vehicle development project at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. E-RA is designed in the spirit of RaceAbout as a sporty and desirable 2 seat vehicle and a clearly identifiable member of the RaceAbout family. E-RA is designed from scratch as a purely battery powered electric vehicle featuring efficient and simple direct electric, all wheel drive and the most advanced battery technology available. An Altair NanoTechnologies 330kW Lithium-Titanate battery pack with 250kW charger allows the vehicle to be recharged within 10-minutes.

The aim was to build a highly flexible and high-performance electrical drive system.

• Acceleration: 6 sec (0-100 km/h)


• Top speed: 200km/h


• Range: 200 km


• Consumption: below 2,35/100 km (100 miles per gallon equivalent)

Key innovations used:

• Unique configuration of four separate electric drive motors, one at each wheel


• Uses Audi R8 supercar aluminum suspension and racing brakes


• Entire vehicle designed to be a blend of high performance and energy efficiency