Rimac Automobili, an electric car company based in Croatia that specialises in electric vehicle technology has just beaten the Porsche 918 in a quarter mile race with their electric super car – Rimac Concept_One.
As far as drag races go, the Porsche 918 is the most superior of the holy trinity, thanks to its four-wheel drive set up. This enables the 918 to put all of its 875 hp down onto the tarmac better than its rear-wheel drive rivals. It goes from 0 to 100km/h in 2.8 seconds and yet, the Concept_One simply obliterates Stuttgart’s quintessential hypercar.
First, simply jump to the 5:00 mark of the video for proof:
From the get go, the Concept_One, which has four electric battery motors driving each wheel, is a four-wheel drive machine that kept up with the Porsche (also a four-wheel drive). However, once both cars reach around 120mph (193km/h), the Concept_One just continues to pull and leave the 918 behind. The Concept_One finished the quarter mile in 9.9 seconds.
The Porsche 918 in the video belongs to Alejandro, or better known through his YouTube alias Salomondrin, and it is fitted with the ultra-exclusive Weissach package that lightens the 918 further. Doesn’t this make the Concept_One’s victory even sweeter?
Piloting the Concept_One is none other than the founder, CTO and CEO of Rimac Automobili, Mate Rimac. To make matters even more exciting, the car in the video is an actual customer’s car with around 7,000km on the clock. This gives us a good idea of what Rimac is able to deliver.
So how did a seven-year-old company in Croatia beat the almighty 918? With four electric motors, 1,088 hp, 1,600 Nm of torque, a century sprint time of 2.6 seconds, 355km/h top speed and some serious software controls, of course.
Mate Rimac has always had the passion to surpass what supercars today can achieve with electric technologies. That was how the Concept_One came about. However, during the time, the technology needed to realise the Concept_One did not exist. Rimac went on to develop those technologies themselves and hence the Concept_One was born.
The 1,088 hp electric super car boasts features that no other electric vehicles have. For example, instead of a single ratio gearbox that every other vehicle has, the Concept_One comes with a two-speed double clutch gearbox. This allows for the Concept_One to accelerate quickly from low speeds and at the same time achieving the 335km/h top speed.
The car also comes with advanced torque vectoring controls that allows drivers to select how they want the power to be delivered. In other words, the driver can configure their Concept_One to be fully rear-wheel driven, front-wheel driven, equal torque split or even 30:70 front to rear torque bias. This makes the car extremely versatile and everything is done via the centre console dial.
All these technologies are leaps and bounds ahead of other manufactures which is a good thing as Rimac also offers their solutions to other manufacturers. One of their clients is none other than Swedish hypercar manufacturer Koenigsegg. As Rimac grows and more companies adopt their technologies, the potential for these innovations to trickle down into everyday cars is limitless.
If you are wondering how much does one costs, Salomondrin has expressed that this absolute monster of a machine will set you back for around 1.1 to 1.2 million USD. That translates to around RM4.5 million and each and every single one of them have been snatched up. To quote Mate, the future of electric vehicles should not be viewed as the end of gasoline engines but rather the start of a new era of supercars and hypercars that are equally, if not more exciting. For now though, we are sure that their upcoming 1,800 Nm track weapon, the Concept_S, will excite us further.
IMAGE GALLERY
