Acceleration of a common car with with a turbocharged diesel engine is compared to the same type
with an electric motor in terms of kinematics. Starting from a state of rest, the electric car
reaches a distant spot earlier than the diesel car, even though the latter has a better
specification for engine power and average acceleration from 0 to 100 km h −1 . A three phase model
of acceleration as a function of time fits the data of the electric car accurately. The first phase
is a quadratic growth of acceleration in time. It is shown that the tenfold higher coefficient for
the first phase accounts for most of the kinematic advantage of the electric car.