Articles
Rimac C_Two
(Credit: Rimac)
Croatia may not be the heart of the electric hypercar, which is on track to a top speed of 412km/h (256mph). Each of the 150 C_Two models being manufactured will cost over £1.5m and will be driven by four electric motors. Expensive cars like this tend to push the engineering limits of new technology and just checking out the specs of this beast makes the heart race.
0-60mph: 1.85s
Top speed: 412km/h (256mph)
Range: 550km (340m)
Pininfarina Battista
(Credit: Pininfarina)
You don’t buy a Battista. You ‘apply to own’ one. The company crafting 150 of these “masterpieces” describes them as the “birth of a beautiful dream”, and the Battista’s sleek curves captured the attention of the global media when it was unveiled in March of this year. According to Top Gear, that dream comes with a price tag of around £1.5m, but it does get you the fastest road-legal car to ever come out of Italy… with none of those nasty emissions.
0-62mph: sub-2s
Top speed: 402km/h (250mph)
Range: 450km (280m)
Tesla Roadster
(Credit: Tesla)
Launching the revamped Tesla Roadster, Elon Musk declared that it was out to give a “hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars”. Musk said driving a traditional sports car would soon feel like “a steam engine with a side of quiche” (debate continues about what this actually means). Due to go into production next year, the Roadster is billed as “the quickest car in the world”. If range is the new horsepower, then this car is streets ahead of the competition.
0-60mph: 1.9s
Top speed: 402km/h (250mph)
Range: 1,000km (620m)
Lotus Type 130
(Credit: Lotus)
Who doesn’t love a good mystery? And there are few more tantalising ones in the car world right now than the Lotus Type 130. The company says this is going to be the “world’s first full electric British hypercar” and its first all-new product in more than a decade. Lotus describes it as a turning point for the brand and has released a teaser image. Autocar reports the new model could cost £2m and only a few dozen will be made.
0-60mph: unknown
Top speed: unknown
Range: unknown
Ariel P40 Hipercar
(Credit: Ariel)
With its P40 electric supercar, Ariel is racing down a new road. The company has a long history of building lightweight vehicles, motorbikes and a few things in between. But the Hipercar (High Performance Carbon Reduction) is designed to rival McLarens and Porsches. With a drivetrain from Equipmake (see "Lightning Speed – Engineers from Croatia to the Cotswolds create electric supercars"), this car is loaded with so much power, Formula One technology was explored to keep it glued to the road.
0-60mph: 2.4s
Top speed: 257km/h (160mph)
Range: unknown
Aston Martin Rapide E
(Credit: Aston Martin)
The luxury British car maker that gave James Bond his wheels has launched its first electric car. Usually Aston Martin lets subsidiary Lagonda handle the electric side of things, but the Rapide E is a special-edition vehicle, designed to recreate the feel of the V12-engine Rapide S. Only 155 are being built and will be sold for over £250,000. As the most powerful Rapide to date, packed with the latest EV technology, driving one should leave a driver stirred, not shaken.
0-60mph: sub-4s
Top speed: 249km/h (155mph)
Range: over 320km (200m)
Read part one: "Engineers from Croatia to the Cotswolds create electric supercars."
Read part two: "Aston Martin uses experience to build electric supercar."
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.