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Friday, 10 October 2008

Carbon Motors E7, first purpose-built police car, will be presented this month

Next week, on Tuesday, the first purpose-built police car of the world will make its premiere to the public. Carbon Motors "E7", the codename of the car project (until North American police officers decide the name the car will have), will be shown at the "2008 Pure Justice Tour", an event the company has created to visi nine USA cities: Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Indianapolis, Columbus, Tampa, Jacksonville and Greenville. The first presentation will take place in Chicago.



The idea of the tour is to present the car to the most interested people on the product, policemen. According to Carbon Motors, many of them have been consulted to create the car. Probably some of them were European, since E7 will have a turbodiesel engine, a very popular option in the Old World, but not exactly the sort of engine most North Americans like the most. Who knows if this is not a chance for these powerplants to become popular around there?

There will be lots of advantages. Besides the high autonomy the fuel provides, what accounts for lower running costs, it also emits less CO2 and is not exactly weak. This 3-litre engine (possibly an inline six-cylindre) provides 300 bhp and 356 Nm of torque, a low figure for such a big turbodiesel engine. Since Carbon Motors has written it will have 420 lb-ft, maybe they have made a mistake and written the Nm unit in lb-ft. We tried to contact Carbon Motors, but did not manage to get in touch so far.

If performance is a concern, you are allowed to think again. The company says the car can reach 96 km/h from 0 in 6.5 s, a top speed of 250 km/h and a fuel economy of about 13 km/l in a combined cycle.

E7, or whatever they decide to name it, is a 5.08 m long, 1.98 m wide and 1.63 m tall sedan (wheelbase reaches 3.10 m). Although it has a aluminum spaceframe body structure, it still weighs a lot: about 1,800 kg. Weight distribution is said to be 50%/50% between front and rear axles, what will make it a really interesting machine to drive, euphemistically speaking.

This may be due to the fact it is loaded with police equipment, such as integrated surveillance capabilities, radar, LoJack, automatic license plate recognition system, radiation and biological threat detectors, 360º built-in LED emergency lighting, on-board Rapid Command Architecture™ (ORCA™) with a large touch-screen main display and a separate touch screen keyboard providing world-class data communication and human-machine interface. Armoring can be NIJ Level III-A or better, but only for front doors and dash panel. Or it is highly deficient, since no partial armoring is suitable, or Carbon Motors has forgotten to mention bullet-proof windows and front and rear seats partition.

Among other interesting features, E7 presents coach rear doors, for easier access for suspects and 120 km/h rear impact crash capability. This is clearly a precaution, since some state that Ford Crown Victoria, one of North American police officers' favourites, fire up when hit on the back.

Prices will only be revealed in some months, but Carbon Motors claims it will be similar to regular modified vehicles. It it rides as well as technical specs promise, all policen in the world will want to have an E7. And all bad guys too!









Source: Carbon Motors

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