A Batmobile EV – not yet I am afraid!

The world's first fully operational and functioning, all electric Batmobile has been constructed and is ready to fight crime. It is however not the car that will be seen in the soon to be launched movie ‘The Batman’.

This EV example of the iconic Batmobile car is the brain child of artist Nguyen Dac Chung, a?23-year-old graduate from the Hanoi University of Architecture?and his team of designers, architects, mechanics, and engineers who all decided to make their own eco friendly electric Batmobile as a project.

Nguyen’s inspiration for the build came from Christopher Nolan’s off-road, tank-like version of the car affectionately known as ‘The Tumbler’ which was driven by Christian Bale in the film ‘Batman Begins’. That car although made of fibreglass, weighed in at 2.5 tons but could nevertheless reach 60mph in less than 6 seconds and reach a top speed of 110mph ?

Its 500hp Chevrolet 350 V8 engine and its 44 inch tyres bizarrely could make the car ‘jump’ up to 30 feet when asked. The Lamborghini/Humvee hybrid reappeared once more in the film ‘The Dark Night’ and of the six replicas made, four are known to survive.

Nguyen’s team have fabricated their electric Batmobile using a steel frame to which they attached armoured panels made from a mixture of materials such as abs, composite, steel and carbon fibre to form the body. Much of it is handmade and other parts were 3D-printed for extra precision.

The electric Batmobile weighs less than 1,300 lbs (600 kg) and its lithium-ion-powered electric engine gives it a top speed of 65 mph (104 kph). It does boast remote-controlled automatic hydraulic doors, four tactical cameras for a near-360 view and it has of course a passenger seat for Robin.?

It is now on display at Ho Chi Minh City-based Van Daryl automotive gallery in Vietnam.

Those who watch the latest film ‘The Batman’ due out in March 2022 will see the current Caped Crusader, played by Robert Pattinson drive his new car which the designer hopes will be a far more realistic set of wheels than those seen before in the Batman Forever, Batman and Robin and The Dark Knight trilogy films.

Indeed this car, from its appearance could almost be considered a unique ultra modern kit car, made out of both carbon fibre and fibre glass and fitted with a 700hp Ford 350 Raptor engine.?

Its American muscle car appearance however still displays its original 1966 Gotham City registration plates leaving aficionados and enthusiasts alike debating whether its early Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang or Dodge Charger influence is the stronger.

Pictures of the very latest incarnation of the Batmobile are on show at the Warner Bros hotel in Abu Dhabi for the next few days prior to the launch of ‘The Batman’ on the 2nd March 2022.

The shape of this iconic car has changed a lot since it was first shown in a television show in the 1960’s being driven by the original super hero Bruce Wayne. Back then William M. Schmidt who was the Lincoln Mercury's post war chief stylist took a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car, valued at $250,000 and put shape to it after, he suggested ‘he got the idea whilst scuba diving with sharks’.

The original car was fabricated by George Barris who spent $15.000 dollars on getting it ready for the 1966 to 1968 television series of Batman. The car weighed 5500lbs, with its 390 inch V8 atomic turbined engine, automatic transmission, 84 inch body fins. Its oil slick sprayers, used to foil following vehicles were in fact made out of household garden sprinklers.

Barris kept the car until 2013 when he sold it at auction for $4.6 million dollars to Phoenix car collector Rick Champagne who showcased it in his living room.

Three fibreglass copies were made from the same mould all of which are believed to have survived.

The car used in Tim Burtons 1989 film ‘Batman’ starring Michael Keaton was in fact two Chevrolet Impala chassis’ welded together and powered by a Chevy V8 engine. When driven its exhaust afterburner ‘ran on’ for 15 seconds due to fuel limitation and its rear end ‘wobbled’ all over the place at 90mph.

The 1930’s styled matt black bodywork displayed a front-mounted turbine and offered only a few simple yet potent gadgets. Its hand sculpted rear fins were also noticeably different to each other

It was Barbara Ling who designed the Batmobile in Joel Schumacher’s 1995 film ‘Batman Forever’ starring Val Kilmer. She gave it a more organic appearance and openly displayed its ribs and wings, engine panels, wheels, and undercarriage all of which glowed blue.

The car was powered by a modified Chevy 350 ZZ3 high-performance engine fitted in a body made from a high-temperature epoxy-fibreglass laminate which contained a 25-gallon propane tank allowing it to shoot a 25-foot flame from its rear exhaust.

Unfortunately this Batmobile was destroyed partway through?the film when ‘The Riddler’ threw a sack full of explosives in the cockpit.

In 1997, Joel Schumacher’s second Batman film, ‘Batman and Robin’ starring George Clooney, Ling was again asked to design the Batmobile.

She decided on an open air car similar to that seen in the early comics but with a Jaguar D Type and a French Delahaye 165 influence. It was around 30 feet long, the longest Batmobile ever recorded and it displayed the most intricate dashboard and interior of any Batmobile seen before and it had a boat tail rear.

Fitted to it was an ex racing engine from a Chevy 350 ZZ3 that dispensed with its previous single jet exhaust system in favour of six smaller exhausts protruding from the rear. Whilst it allegedly had a top speed of 230mph and 350mph using its after burner thrust, it was only road tested to 140mph. As it accelerated away it left behind it the Bat logo in its tyre tracks.

In the 2016 Zack Snyder film Batman v Superman - Dawn of Justice with Ben Affleck starring as Batman, it was clear that the styling was a conglomeration of previous incarnations notably by its side profile and clam shell canopy.

Its Chevrolet hybrid engine allegedly took the 20 foot long, 12 feet wide car to 205mph despite its ‘Tumbler’ style tyres (actually shaved down tractor tyres), its aero flaps and a front-mounted double-barrel gun turret.

A 500hp replica of Snyder’s Batmobile was built by a Russian enthusiast complete with fake machine gun, audio, night vision camera, laser sight, 255x zoom thermal imager and bulletproof windows was sold recently on the internet for $850,000.

Its body kit purchased in the USA surprisingly only allowed the car to travel in first gear at 30/kmh. The owner suggested that most of the chase shots of the car in the Batman films were made at 20kmh and the actual speed effects were created later by using special effects.

If you can’t afford a Batmobile then an iconic?Lamborghini Vision GT?is one real-life car that could probably pass as a Batmobile.?This car styled by Lamborghini Centro Stile in Sant’Agata in Italy is a single-seat sports car that powers the same V12 hybrid engine as their Sian FKP37 – it just needs a coat of jet black coat paint to really complete the look.

Lamborghini’s Sesto Elemento?model, which weighs just 999 kilograms (2,202 lb)?including its V10 power unit and its permanent all-wheel drive, which takes the car from?0 to 100 km/h?in a record time of only 2.5 seconds is yet another lookalike.

The new Batmobile for the film ‘The Batman’ has not yet been seen in its entirety, just a few teaser photographs.

I can’t help thinking that the producers have missed a trick and a little kudos in not making an electric version of the Batmobile for their film. As Batman would no doubt say “Holy carbon friendly vehicles Robin, we are going to have to go electric at sometime in the future”