Driving into the NASA Ames Research Centre at Moffett Field can be fairly intimidating. After all, it’s a facility where world-class studies are being held in the information technology, aerospace and aeronautics research and engineering fields. The security checkpoint does little to lighten the mood.

But driving up to the KleenSpeed Technologies Inc. office located inside the National Aeronautics and Space Administration facility is another story. It’s enthralling.

Established in 2007, it was founded by Tim Collins.

“We started out with the idea to build an electric race car,” the KleenSpeed president says. “We did not know we would build the world’s fastest electric race car!”

The EV-X11 is based on the chassis of the state-of-the-art West Race Cars American LeMans IMSA Lite L2 sports racer. It was then modified and outfitted with a proprietary KleenSpeed EV System, including power controller, charging system, battery packs and ancillary components.

It can reach speeds of over 260 km/h, and the four KleenSpeed Battery Packs powering the vehicle produce 200 horsepower and 300 lbs.-ft of torque. The EV-X11 has a curb weight of 632 kg and can last about 10 minutes at full power before it needs to be recharged.

For the third year in a row, the zero-emissions vehicle has taken home the top prize at The ReFuel EV Challenge, and also managed to set a new lap record for EVs at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

While it’s not the only electric race car prototype hitting the tracks – Nissan has a race car prototype version of their production-ready Leaf – it is definitely creating a lot of buzz.

Inside the Silicon Valley-based company’s walls resides the record-setting prototype, but more importantly, the reason for its creation and the mantra behind KleenSpeed – to take its engineering know-how and advanced systems and translate it into reliable, affordable and accessible EV transportation to the masses.

The driving force behind the company’s R&D is Dante Zeviar, executive vice president and chief technology officer.

Saying Zeviar is passionate about his work is an understatement. He lives and breathes EV, and that translates directly into his work.

But the attitude toward green technology is shared by the whole team at KleenSpeed.

“Everybody here is in love with cars,” Zeviar notes. “We love racing. We love automobiles. We love the automotive history. But we recognize the impact that transportation infrastructure has on the plan-et and we understand the short-comings of cars today.”

As we’re talking, he mentions that “hybrids are gaining a lot of popularity and they seem to be really catching on. The next step after hybrids is EVs”

But why build a race car, then build a commuter vehicle for the masses?

“Everything we learn on the race-track transfers directly to the commercial sector,” Zeviar points out.