Electric cars have developed a reputation for being very bland over time. The lack of throttle or steering response in prior generation electric cars was regarded as a sacrifice for the sake of fuel efficiency, but it was primarily the result of early EV development’s technological restrictions. That is no longer the case, especially now that battery technology and electric motors have advanced to the point where power plants can now outpace even the quickest automobiles on the road.
Rimac, a Croatian carmaker, recognizes this and has focused on developing strong battery-powered vehicles since 2009. Rimac has unveiled its latest gasoline killer to the world on June 1, and it offers some of the most amazing performance numbers ever seen on the road.
The Rimac Nevera is a 1,914-horsepower hypercar named after a Mediterranean storm that is set to shatter global speed records.
The Nevera delivers a massive 1740 pound-feet of total torque using four hub-mounted electric motors—one at each wheel. Unlike a gasoline engine, the hypercar’s electric motor generates torque quickly, without the need to wait for a turbocharger to spool or an engine to crank to its maximum efficiency.
The Nevera can accelerate at an astonishingly quick rate because of its high power output mixed with the immediate torque of an electric motor. Rimac claims that the automobile can accelerate from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in under 1.85 seconds. It now has the quickest acceleration of any production car, beating out the Koenigsegg Gemera and Bugatti Chiron Super Sport.
The Nevera will reach 100 mph in 4.3 seconds and 186 mph in 9.6 seconds if the driver keeps the pedal pushed. It will take 8.6 seconds to sprint a quarter-mile.
Only half of the battle is won. The Nevera must not only have a tremendous punch, but it must also be as light as feasible to compensate for the weight of its battery pack. Rimac does this by building the hypercar’s monocoque—the single-piece exoskeleton responsible for the chassis’ structural rigidity—out of lightweight carbon fiber. The monocoque combines a bonded carbon fiber roof, carbon fiber rear subframe, and the vehicle’s carbon-encased battery pack to create the world’s single biggest carbon-fiber structure. the car as a whole weighs 4,740 pounds, with the monocoque accounting for 440 of that.
In the grand scheme of things, that’s about average for electric vehicles. In comparison, the Tesla Model S Plaid weighs 4,766 pounds, while BMW’s new i4 M50 electric sports car weighs 5,049 pounds.
The Nevera appears to be somewhat hefty when compared to a gasoline-powered hypercar. The Bugatti Chiron is a bloated hypercar that may weigh up to 4,358 pounds. A less powerful Lamborghini Aventador weighs in at 3,472 pounds, but none of them has 6,960 separate battery cells.
Rimac claims that their 120-kilowatt-hour battery pack is made up of 21700 cells (the same form factor battery cell found in the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y). The battery pack is expected to go 340 kilometers on a single charge. When the car’s battery is low, Rimac claims it can use 500-kilowatt rapid charging to obtain an 80 percent charge in 22 minutes.
When coming to a stop or coasting down a hill, modern electric automobiles not only output electricity to their motors but also use those same motors to return power to the battery pack. Regenerative braking, as the name implies, uses the resistance of the electric motors to decelerate without using the car’s rear brakes, recharging the battery pack in the process. Because charging and discharging a battery fast creates a lot of heat, the Nevera will detect if the temperature of its battery pack is rising too high to keep temperatures optimal. In that case, the car’s regenerative braking rate can be reduced in favor of employing the force of its physical brakes.
The aerodynamics of an automobile has an impact on both range and performance. A car’s range might be extended by lowering drag. Increased drag can be achieved by proportionally boosting downforce in important regions of a vehicle’s bodywork, resulting in reduced range but better-sustained speed throughout a bend. While this is a difficulty when developing any new automobile, it’s a far more critical aspect to perfect in an electric vehicle that can’t just fill up at the gas station like its gasoline counterparts. Rimac came up with a solution by incorporating active aerodynamics into Nevera’s bodywork.
Active aerodynamics alters components of a vehicle’s design to alter how it responds to forces such as lift and drag imposed by air on a vehicle during driving. The Nevera is programmed to physically shift its bodywork to modify its response to these pressures, such as Track Mode to release the car’s maximum power or Range Mode to preserve the battery on a calmer trip. Rimac made changes to the hood’s contour as well as a flap on the underside. The rear diffuser and spoiler may also move position, allowing the Nevera to actively modify the amount of drag and downforce it generates at any given time. When the driver wants to optimize range, the car will have a reduced drag coefficient, and when the driver wants to apply power to the pavement, the car will adopt high downforce mode.
Rimac can add a feature called “AI Driver Coach” using Nevera’s onboard sensors. This Nvidia-powered machine learning system uses 13 onboard cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and 6 radars to analyze a driver’s performance on the track. After that, the device may deliver both aural and visual feedback to help optimize steering, braking, and acceleration habits. The Driver Coach functionality will not be included with the Nevera but will be accessible as an over-the-air upgrade in 2022, according to Rimac.
Only 150 Neveras will be built and sold throughout the world, with each customer receiving an invitation to the Rimac plant in Croatia to create their car to their precise requirements. Given the car’s price tag of 2 million Euros (USD 2.44 million), the amount of customization should come as no surprise.
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