World’s fastest electric car gets even faster – Rimac Nevera R reaches astonishing performance claim
Rimac has taken the wraps off its updated Nevera model, with a new race-focused R edition equipped with a next-generation battery pack for stunning performance.
Officially, the Rimac Nevera is the fastest electric production car in the world. It has broken more world records than Usain Bolt and was already one of the most beloved electric sports cars ever.
But the company felt there was more to it and Mate Rimac, the company’s CEO, says that despite all the record-breaking performance, the standard Nevera is actually designed as a reasonably comfortable and relaxed grand tourer (GT).
That’s why Rimac has just released a track-focused Nevera R, complete with the obligatory massive rear spoiler, equally large carbon-ceramic brakes and updated software that prioritizes performance over practicalities like battery range.
As for the batteries, there’s a new 108kWh pack that’s said to be lighter and more efficient than the average Nevera.
The result is a car that can sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in just 1.74 seconds, the same as the ‘standard’ car, but can propel itself from 0 to 200 km/h in just 4.38 seconds and then on to 300 km/h in just 8.66 seconds – almost a second faster than the Nevera.
Wind back the clock a few years and you’d find that a 0-100km/h time of 4.38 seconds would have been acceptable for many supercars, but Rimac is busy rethinking what it means to go fast with electric motors.
Total system output now stands at 2,107bhp, 193bhp more than the Nevera, while the official top speed is set at 412km/h, making it the fastest electric production car in the world at the moment.
No price has been announced yet, but there will only be 40 models of the series available worldwide, so don’t expect it to be cheap.
Shockingly fast
Today’s electric cars are changing our definition of speed. Even the most average passenger cars can accelerate from zero to 100 km/h in the age of sports car racing.
The Rimac Nevera has proven to be one of the fastest electric cars in the world. Only the Aspark Owl has a faster acceleration time: it accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 1.72 seconds.
However, to make an electric vehicle go fast, you typically need to add more batteries and motors, which just as quickly adds weight. This means that while EVs are fast in a straight line, they are often pretty useless when cornering.
But performance specialists like Rimac are busy disputing this notion, with the Nevera R said to be around 3.8 seconds faster than the regular model at the Nardo Handling Track in Italy.
It’s highly likely that the Rimac Nevera R will now go after lap records at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, looking to better its own time of 7:05.2 and smash the record times of more specialized electric cars such as the Volkswagen ID.R Concept and the Nio EP9.
