Students from Swiss universities ETH Zurich and Hochschule Luzern have achieved something very few in the auto industry have been able to do. They developed an electric vehicle that has just set the world record for the fastest 0-to-60-mph sprint time for an electric vehicle, clocking in an incredible 1.513 seconds on a runway at the Dübendorf Air Base in Switzerland.

The EV, dubbed “Grimsel,” was developed all the way back in 2014 for the “Formula Student” engineering competition by the students who are part of the Academic Motorsports Club Zurich (AMZ). By any standard, Grimsel is an incredible piece of engineering and the fact that it was created by students speaks to the skills of these young, brilliant minds.

It may look the part of a go-kart-sized Formula racer, but underneath that body are four wheel hub motors that the students themselves developed to produce a combined output of 200 horsepower and an eye-popping 1,250 pound-feet of torque. Combine that with a carbon fiber body that weighs just 370 pounds and it's no wonder it managed to hit 60 mph from an idle position in just 1.513 seconds.

By comparison, the “previous” record was 1.779 seconds and was set by another EV from the Formula Student competition developed by the Green Team Uni Stuttgart e.V. This record still stands in the Guinness World Records but it should only be a matter of time before Grimsel takes its place atop the record books.

On a more specific context, the Porsche 918 Spyder can do 0 to 60 mph in 2.2 seconds (as tested by CarAndDriver). That’s 0.7 seconds slower than Grimsel. Wrap your heads around that.

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Why it matters

I can’t even begin to imagine what it must feel like being in a car that can go from 0 to 60 mph in 1.5 seconds. To think, Grimsel could cover that distance faster than I can type this. That’s how quick it is.

Obviously, all the credit should go to the team of 30 students who are responsible for the creation and development of the EV. In addition to all the impressive details I already mentioned, it’s worth mentioning that these students managed to develop the car by effectively using the electric power generated by the motors in an incredibly efficient manner. Apparently, these young minds were able to create an AWD system with each wheel that is managed individually by a traction control system. Depending on the road conditions, the amount of power transferred to the wheels can be adjusted. The students were also able to develop a torque vectoring system that can send extra power to the outer wheels whenever the EV is making a turn. That gives Grimsel more agility in the corners, something that obviously isn’t exhibited in a 0-to-60-mph sprint time. But, it goes to show the EV’s overall capabilities.

Speaking of capabilities, Grimsel’s electric motors are also able to recuperate energy into the battery while the EV is braking. This allows the batteries to regenerate by as much as 30 percent of the overall power that’s consumed during its run.

Grimsel’s numbers and abilities are all impressive, but don’t expect the EV to be anything more than a record-setter. That shouldn’t take away from the incredible achievement set by these students, though. That’s the biggest takeaway here, not the fact that it just covered 0 to 60 mph in 1.5 seconds. This record-setting EV was created and developed by students. That's incredible.