Really interesting interview with Mate Rimac.
On the design of 4 door hypercars:
Basically, when you do a car like that, if it's low, the problem is with four seats you usually have very upright seating when you put people one behind the other. And then sports cars have long bonnets or rears for the engine or battery so the car becomes impossibly long. Then you have to go kind of SUV-ish for the roof height and to get the proportions, which ruins the centre of gravity. That's the real kind of challenge with this kind of car.
On commoditization of EV performance :
There are a lot of electric cars coming onto the market with super performance at a lower price point. Rivian has crazy acceleration, Tesla Plaid, performance is becoming a commodity and it'll be interesting to see what car makers do? We are at least a generation ahead with the Nevera, so all of them will try to come to Nevera about five years later – but what will Lamborghini, McLaren and Aston Martin be without a combustion engine? Will all of them have four motors, 120kWh battery, 1,500bhp plus and be around €300-400,000? I don't know. How will we differentiate?
On the shortcomings of the Nevera:
We have a big battery and range is certified for 490km WLTP [304 miles]. If I took efficiency more seriously and we really took care of it as we did for performance, I think the car should have at least like 40 per cent more. Maybe even 50 per cent more so in Nevera, if I would do the powertrain again and some other things, I think we could have easily like 600-700km [372-435 miles) with the 120kWh battery pack. It was a €180million learning experience. It's an expensive education – you learn so much, and if I were to do it again it would be so much lighter [in the battery]. I would do lots of things differently – getting weight out would also help increase range.
In this light, what Lucid has done with the Air is truly remarkable.
www.autoexpress.co.uk
On the design of 4 door hypercars:
Basically, when you do a car like that, if it's low, the problem is with four seats you usually have very upright seating when you put people one behind the other. And then sports cars have long bonnets or rears for the engine or battery so the car becomes impossibly long. Then you have to go kind of SUV-ish for the roof height and to get the proportions, which ruins the centre of gravity. That's the real kind of challenge with this kind of car.
On commoditization of EV performance :
There are a lot of electric cars coming onto the market with super performance at a lower price point. Rivian has crazy acceleration, Tesla Plaid, performance is becoming a commodity and it'll be interesting to see what car makers do? We are at least a generation ahead with the Nevera, so all of them will try to come to Nevera about five years later – but what will Lamborghini, McLaren and Aston Martin be without a combustion engine? Will all of them have four motors, 120kWh battery, 1,500bhp plus and be around €300-400,000? I don't know. How will we differentiate?
On the shortcomings of the Nevera:
We have a big battery and range is certified for 490km WLTP [304 miles]. If I took efficiency more seriously and we really took care of it as we did for performance, I think the car should have at least like 40 per cent more. Maybe even 50 per cent more so in Nevera, if I would do the powertrain again and some other things, I think we could have easily like 600-700km [372-435 miles) with the 120kWh battery pack. It was a €180million learning experience. It's an expensive education – you learn so much, and if I were to do it again it would be so much lighter [in the battery]. I would do lots of things differently – getting weight out would also help increase range.
In this light, what Lucid has done with the Air is truly remarkable.
Mate Rimac: the future of Rimac, Bugatti and the hypercar | Auto Express
CEO tells Auto Express about blocking Bugatti's SUV, its hybrid Chiron successor and how Rimac models will 'bend physics'
www.autoexpress.co.uk
