7 electric hypercars we’re looking forward to
- Tesla Roadster
Yikes. The incoming Tesla Roadster (incoming when, exactly, we don’t know), kinda caught the rest of the car world napping. With good reason: it’s FAST. 0-60mph in 1.9secs, 0-100mph in 4.2secs, the quarter mile done in 8.8secs and a top speed of over 250mph, fast.
Bananas. Much faster than we’ve seen from any of the world’s conventional supercar manufacturers, nothing short of record-breaking. Faster than a Bugatti Chiron, no less. Yours for the bargain sum of $250k.
The countdown is on, Mr Musk…
2. Ariel P40
In 2017, Ariel revealed plans for an all-electric hypercar called the P40. Yes, Ariel. Builders of the Atom and Nomad, taking on the big scary world of electric hypercars.
The stats are mad: 1,180bhp and 0-100mph in 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 155mph. It will weigh just 1,500kg, and feature four electric motors, each of which delivers the same power as a supercharged Type R motor. Small, too.
There’s also a turbine range extender. Running at 120,000rpm, it generates 47bhp solely to charge the battery pack. It’ll feature a closed-cockpit two-seat design, and Ariel reckons the P40 will need ground effect tech to keep the thing pointing in a straight line. Sheesh.
3. Lotus Evija
Welcome to the age of the electric hypercar, and Britain’s first entrant. Whether or not this will be a long chapter in the history of very fast cars, or a curious cul-de-sac on the way to future forms of power and performance remains to be seen. But Lotus isn’t waiting to see which way the tech wind blows and then cash in its Chinese-funded chips…
4. Aspark Owl
Last year, a car you’ve never heard of from a company you’ve never known about managed to go from 0-60mph in 1.9s. Welcome then, to Japan’s answer to the electric hypercar question: the Aspark Owl.
It has butterfly doors, boasts 429bhp and 563lb ft of torque, four-wheel-drive and a 174mph top speed.
5. Dendrobian D1
Enter the Dendrobium D1, shown off to over 300,000 enthusiastic race fans at the 2019 Le Mans 24-hour race. What is an Dendrobium D1? It is – or it will be – a fully electric hypercar that’ll set you back just over a million quid, perhaps a tad more for a limited series of ‘First Edition’ cars.
For that, you get ballistic horsepower and speed. The technology powering the D1 – and by that we mean the batteries – is still being finalised, but we know the car will feature a full carbon body with a monocoque, built over two subframes. There’ll be a couple of motors on each axle, and lots of aero.
The target weight is 1,750kg, because batteries are heavy of course. There’ll be no shortage of speed, Dendrobium targeting 0-62mph in 2.7secs and a top speed of over 200mph.
6. Pagani Electric Hypercar – Incoming
Pagani is going electric. Well, you didn’t think Pagani was going to let the likes of Aston Martin, Bugatti and Koenigsegg steal all of the Geneva motor show supercar limelight, did you?
The shock news wasn’t announced publicly. Company founder Horacio Pagani himself told TopGear.com about the decision backstage, on the 20th anniversary of the Zonda first gracing the world’s biggest car exhibition.
7. Rimac C_Two
The C_Two is the successor to the Concept_One electric hypercar. It’s more powerful, faster, goes further on a charge, and terrifyingly clever. And rather beautiful, in a futuristic kind of way. Strap in, and prepare yourself for an absurd set of numbers.
Rimac claims the C_Two’s four electric motors develop a combined 1,914hp (1,887bhp) and 1,696lb ft – or 2,300Nm in new money. The front wheels individually use a single-speed gearbox each, while the use of twin two-speed gearboxes at the rear makes for a truly terrifying top speed. Rimac is claiming v-max at 258mph.
On the way, we’re told the C_Two will have cracked 0-60mph in 1.85 seconds (albeit with an American drag strip-friendly one-foot rollout), and 0-62mph, for we Europeans, in 1.97 seconds.