Performance Check Mate

RIMAC’S CONCEPT ONE

“Ahh, military intelligence. The great oxymoron”

Probably one of the oldest jokes in the book, and in this case said by Samuel L. Jackson’s character in the unthinkably memorable 2010 spy-thriller “Unthinkable”. That is the opening gambit here because I’m about to introduce another unthinkable oxymoron into the conversation: “Croatian high-performance electric cars”. No joke.

Rimac is a Croatian auto manufacturer that is evolving into a nascent expert in the electric arena. On top of work with Aston Martin on electrification projects, more exciting is the debut of the 2018 Concept One sports car at 2017’s Geneva Motor Show.

Rimac trumpets their cutting-edge techno machine as ‘the world’s first all-electric hypercar’. The automotive world is charged up with the surge of electric vehicles like the Bolt, Tesla Model 3, etc. so electric hypercars are seemingly DC in an AC auto world. The Concept One can be called a hypercar just for the shockingly explosive power delivered with a 1224 horsepower (900 KW) engine, if one can call it that. That amount of energy propels the car to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 2.5 seconds, blowing the circuits off of the McLaren F1 supercar figure of 3.2 seconds. The Concept One tops out at 355 km/h (220 mph), besting the Jaguar XJ220 supercar. The all-electric range is an impressive 350 km (217 miles) with the battery capacity of 90 KWH.

Ongoing enhancements in the powertrain, battery system and electronics allow Rimac to consistently improve performance. The 200 km/h mark is reached in 6 seconds and the 300 km/h flag falls in just 14 seconds. Rimac Automobili’s proprietary tech includes a Torque Vectoring System that is upgraded to keep the immense power in check. As many electric car owners know, you have 100% power at the drop of your right foot. Rimac’s all-wheel torque vectoring computes info at 100 times per second. That’s fast! Founder, and Guru CEO of Rimac, Mate Rimac said: “To refine the Concept One and to reach an even higher level of performance we have continuously worked to improve and refine every system in the car. Hundreds of upgrades to almost all vehicle systems were necessary to unleash the car’s full potential. Our goal remains to deliver ground-breaking technology demonstrated in our hypercars to likeminded individuals around the world while at the same time being a recognized partner to the global OEMs.”

In the chess-like world of the automotive industry, Rimac Automobili is positively charged to become a good Mate for many global brands’ electric-car ambitions, including Aston Martin, Koenigsegg, Tajima and others. And with the Concept One, they are proving they’re not just pawns in the promising future of electric mobility. Expect to be fully charged on price, currently around USD $1,700,000. www.rimacautomobili.com