McMurtry partners with About:Energy to boost its record-breaking EV supercars

By Nicky Godding

1 May 2024

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McMurtry Speirling PURE VP1

Gloucestershire's McMurtry Automotive, a pioneer in electric vehicle innovation, is partnering with About:Energy, a world-leading innovator in battery development software, to enhance the battery technology for the innovative electric automotive manufacturer of the record-breaking McMurtry Spéirling and Spéirling PURE customer cars.

This strategic collaboration between About:Energy and McMurtry, the company founded by Sir David McMurtry, founder and chairman of global manufacturing company Renishaw, brings together expertise in electric vehicle innovation, battery testing and modelling to improve the battery lifetime and performance of their vehicles by harnessing the latest high-performance Molicel P50B battery.

The Molicel P50B, with its 5.0Ah 21700 form factor lithium-ion cell, presents the best power-to-energy ratio and highest ever energy density of 260Wh/kg (714Wh/l), surpassing previous benchmarks.

About:Energy will accurately model the battery cell behaviour and characterise the P50B cell’s performance, which will enable McMurtry engineers to integrate About:Energy’s crucial data into the design and simulations of their battery packs to maximise efficient fast charging and increased cycle life performance.

Gavin White, CEO and Co-Founder of About:Energy said: “We’re working in parallel with McMurtry on the quickest and most in-depth battery knowledge transfer to date to accelerating the development process of McMurtry’s vehicles.

"Our aim is to eliminate the need for costly and time-consuming in-house battery testing by arming companies and their engineering teams with direct access to world-leading advanced battery intelligence, so they can build better batteries, and accelerate timelines by reducing reliance on physical testing."

McMurtry is renowned for pushing the limits of electric vehicle performance. Its Spéirling hyper car became one of the world's fastest pure electric cars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb in 2022, setting a record time of 39.08 seconds, and since demonstrated a world beating 0-60mph time of just 1.40 seconds.

Kevin Ukoko-Rongione, Chief Engineer, at McMurtry Automotive said: “Working with About:Energy feels like an extension to our in house team. Their engineers are proactive in supporting us to make the most of the battery data and insights obtained from their world class testing facilities. The benefit to us is a quicker time to market, and the benefit to our customers will be a battery pack which has both optimised performance and enhanced lifespan.”

Both companies are working together to empower McMurtry’s engineering team with enhanced data and virtual tools. This includes several workshops to support and familiarise engineers with the complex testing process and data outputs needed to optimise battery designs to push the limits of electric vehicle performance.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.