http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3198662249757043000&q=top+gear+veyron

What I found interesting is that they make them at a huge loss (4-5 million some-euro-currency).

I do realize it’s not all about torque, but I think you misunderstand the concepts involved. Power can be defined as comprising two component “parts” — it is the combination of a force (e.g. ft-lbs, pounds, volts, PSI, etc) with a rate or speed at which the force is delivered (RPM, fps, amps, cfm, respectively). The two values make equal and symmetrical contributions to power — you multiply the two values together and power is the result.

So an engine or motor delivering a certain amount of power can do so by providing high torque at a low speed, low torque at a high speed, or more typically somewhere in between. Raise either or both, and power increases. Gearing is a tradeoff of one for the other, and a little is lost in the trade as no such conversion can occur without friction.

What complicates matters is that power is not constant. In order to achieve constant power throughout its speed range, a powerplant would have to make torque approaching infinity as RPM approaches zero. No powerplant does this of course, although the theoretical power model for a DC electric motor would approximate it if not restricted by the current limitations of the controller and its own windings.

What helps an electric motor/controller setup perform better (in most cases vastly better) than a gas engine of the same maximum horsepower is its “hang time” at peak torque. While a gas engine develops peak torque at a specific point in its powerband, the electric motor achieves maximum torque instantaneously at zero RPM and maintains it continuously until the back-emf of the motor has reached the same voltage as the battery pack, or any motor voltage limit programmed into the controller. At this point the controller exits current-limit mode and torque falls as you continue to accelerate (and by this time you’re probably going quite fast).

So while peak power and to a lesser extent peak torque do give important clues as to a vehicle’s expected acceleration capability, the real story is in the power curve — how power changes with speed. Since speed is a known continuum in the power curve, the same data can be shown as a “torque curve” instead (a motor’s smoothly increasing power curve will appear as a flat, horizontal torque curve).

So in case it was not clear in the post, I do in no way pretend that my truck is even in the same neighborhood as a supercar such as the Veyron. I expect a peak horsepower figure somewhere in the 350-400HP range given my controller, motor and battery pack combination. But I expect to more than keep up with any gas car of similar power, at least until I hit that knee in the torque curve. :o)