Frankfurt 2011:Rimac Concept One – an Electric Supercar

Rimac One Concept - an electric hypercar at Frankfurt

Our antipathy towards electric cars – and the seeming futility of pursuing a technology that has made little progress in a century – is well known. But we do see electric cars as a fun toy for the better-off, and 23 year-old Croatian Mate Rimac has impressed Frankfurt with his Rimac Concept One electric supercar, which is perhaps the ultimate electric toy for the better-off.

Perhaps, in the case of the Rimac One, we should consider it a toy for the seriously well-off, rather than just the better-off, as it’s expected to cost a quite substantial £650k for each of the 88 cars Mate intends making.

But you will get an electric car that makes regular supercars – never mind those propelled by electric motors – look tame in comparison.

The Rimac One is powered by four electric motors, each with its own inverter and reduction gearbox, one at each corner. Mate says this allows the Rimac One to offer all wheel torque vectoring, with each wheel able to accelerate or decelerate hundreds of times a second to give the Rimac One stunning dynamics.

The four motors provide a total of 1073bhp – and doubtless enough torque to propel the TARDIS – which translates in to a 2.8 second 0-60mph and a top speed of 190mph. Very impressive.

What’s more impressive is that Mate says the Rimac One – which weighs in at 1650kgs thanks to extensive use of carbon fibre and despite what must be a battery bank eating up a big percentage of that weight – can manage 375 miles on a single charge.

Of course, the big downside of all that power – and batteries capable of delivering the juice – is cost. But cost is only relative, and in the world of hypercars it can be swallowed by the buyer if what’s on offer is impressive enough.

And the Rimac Once Concept is very impressive.

By Cars UK