Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here. Every so often we hear about ground breaking technologies that promise to lead to a greener future. Hybrids, Biofuels, Hydrogen, they all have their proponents and their naysayers. So far though, most experts agree that electric cars are the future, if only because they are more or less ready for prime time, as opposed to being held hostage by infrastructure or technological hurdles that may take decades to overcome. The results however, have been mixed. Vehicles like the Aptera and Tesla were hailed as groundbreaking and truly commercially viable electric cars, while others were staggering disappointments (anything made by ZAP comes to mind). The end result has been the same for all of them: the cars never materialized. The Aptera? Frozen. The Tesla? Only a few have made delivery. The Volt? Expensive and still not a pure electric. However it appears that one company might have all the answers, and it might not be who you expect. Hit the jump to find out.

Shelby Super Cars.

Founded by Jerod Shelby (no relation to the legendary Carroll Shelby), Shelby Super Cars (SSC) is the company responsible for the Aero; currently the fastest production car in the world, as certified by the Guinness Book of World Records. It was only a few years ago when SSC announced it had produced the fastest car in the world; beating the likes of Bugatti, Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Porsche, to widespread snorts of derision. The automotive world just flat out didn’t believe that an upstart company like SSC could produce such a thing. Lo and behold, the Aero was unveiled, and utterly stunned the world. Shown in wind tunnel testing to be capable of safely sustaining speeds of up to 273 MPH, the 2009 Ultimate Aero is listed as having a top speed of 270 MPH, while the current record held by the 2007 Aero still holds at 256 MPH, edging out the Bugatti by only 3MPH. While these numbers are all fairly impressive, what does this have to do with electric cars and a greener future?

Jerod Shelby, and his company SSC, claims that in February 2009 an all electric plug-in version of the Aero will be revealed; and will have a pair of 500 HP electric engines capable of of 0-60 in 2.5 seconds and a top speed of 208 MPH.. 100% emissions free. Now… that’s one thing. Then they up the ante. It’ll be plug in electric… and have a 150 to 200 mile range. Yeah. Now comes the claim that would knock most people back in their chair screaming bullshit- the car will be capable of being recharged in 10 minutes from a 220V outlet.

Now when they say 10 minutes… they mean 10 minutes. This car will supposedly function exactly like any other car would; ready for a full 200 mile range after 10 minutes of charging, cycle after cycle. And they aren’t screwing around either, their press release, which can be found here, claims that a pre-production model will be ready for testing in the second quarter of 2009; with deliveries as early as the fourth quarter of 2009. That’s right. Not some far off future date- SSC plans on bringing this miracle to market faster than the Volt. Talk about laying it all on the line, they even state up front they are going to PROVE this car works at a speedway here in America on live TV for the media to see… it sounds like the beginnings of the electric revolution.

However you might all be wondering how exactly a $640,000 supercar (based off the gasoline powered EV) makes any difference to us… since we can’t afford it. It seems Shelby is interested in cornering and dominating the electric market, stating that the AESP (the engine powering the Aero EV) is scalable for any kind of car or truck (200-1200 HP), and with prices per engine unit at 5-6K per 1000-10,000 units, the AESP may very well become the core of future cars and trucks, since apparently this company has created in 3 years what others have been struggling, and have yet, to accomplish for at least a decade.

The real question is… can it survive against the major automakers? Is the drive train proves itself, will the established auto makers of the world unite to kill the AESP to save their own futures, or will they swallow their pride and their wasted production dollars and instead embrace the technology? Or will SSC have to create their own line of small affordable cars and trucks, striking a heavy blow to the industry as a whole? Needless to say, the technology, if it’s legitimate and can deliver on its promises, is a miraculous breakthrough and an embarrassment to the current auto companies; but only time will tell what the scope will be of the ramifications. We could very well see things turn ugly. You can bet Webridestv will be there to follow the story.

Dr. VW- signing off.