MALIBU, California – The most wonderful factor concerning the $2.1 million Rimac Nevera is how straightforward it’s to simply get in and drive.
The Nevera is an electrical hypercar from Croatia. It sits low — very low — to the bottom, and at first look it appears to be like like the easy act of stepping into it could possibly be difficult. But the doorways, which raise up and out type of like a Lamborghini’s, lower into the roof simply sufficient to make sure that I do not bump my head as I drop myself into the motive force’s seat.
Getting underway does take a bit little bit of studying. Gears are shifted with an enormous knob to the left of the steering wheel, the ability seat’s changes are hidden in a touchscreen, and switches for the flip alerts and headlights are mounted straight on the steering wheel. But as soon as you’ve got received that down, it is easy to function.
The complete automobile is like that — easy to function — its 1,914 horsepower however.
One of the primary issues I seen as we received underway is that it is simple to see out of the Nevera. That’s not a given with automobiles like this. For instance, in Ferraris and Lamborghinis and different low-slung freeway rockets, it is typically a problem to see what’s behind you. But whereas the Nevera is certainly low slung, there’s simply sufficient of a rear window to make it straightforward to drive in freeway visitors. Good facet mirrors definitely assist with that.
There’s additionally simply sufficient mechanical noise to remind you that you simply’re in a hypercar. There might not be an engine, however there are 4 electrical motors and so they make mellifluous mechanical sounds because the automobile strikes down the street. Not so loud that I could not converse with my passenger, Rimac’s Ryan Lanteigne, in an inexpensive speaking voice. It is simply loud sufficient to remind us that we’re driving in one thing particular.
And the Nevera could be very particular certainly — accurately for its simply over $2 million asking worth. You’ll see why within the video.
The Rimac story
Rimac — pronounced REE-mahtz, roughly — is Croatia’s first and solely automaker. Its 35-year-old founder, Mate (MAH-ta) Rimac, began tinkering with electrical autos after he blew the engine in an outdated BMW he raced as a young person. After rebuilding it with an electrical drivetrain — and profitable some races, in addition to — he based Rimac Automobili in 2009, hoping to someday construct an electrical supercar in his dwelling nation.
Although Rimac the corporate’s first years have been a battle, Mate’s timing turned out to be glorious on reflection, with automakers around the globe shifting to affect their fleets.
Rimac’s early prototypes have been spectacular sufficient to draw vital investments from Hyundai and Porsche, and it raised one other 500 million euros (or about $534 million) final 12 months. Those served as the inspiration of what’s now a thriving enterprise consulting to conventional automakers keen to construct high-performance EVs. Aston Martin and Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg are amongst Rimac’s shoppers, together with various others that the corporate says it could’t but disclose.
The Nevera is called for the fierce summer time storms that roll into Croatia from the Adriatic Sea. (Rimac staff prefer to say that neveras — the storms — are “extremely powerful and charged by lightning,” identical to their automobile.)
The Nevera (the automobile) serves each as a rolling show of Rimac’s EV experience and because the supercar that Mate Rimac has lengthy dreamed of constructing. It’s a four-motor design — one for every wheel — with a 120 kilowatt-hour battery pack, sufficient for about 300 miles of vary underneath regular driving circumstances.
Four motors and a cravat
But there’s nothing regular concerning the Nevera’s energy output. Those 4 motors give it a complete of 1,914 horsepower, and a couple of,360 newton-meters of torque — sufficient for a high pace of 258 miles per hour. Zero to 60 miles per hour takes simply 1.74 seconds, based on Rimac.
I did not confirm that point with any nice accuracy, however I can attest that such an influence thrust is believable. As pleasant as it’s to drive in visitors, the Nevera is sort of unbelievably fast when absolutely uncorked. But it by no means feels uncontrollable, and that is a major engineering achievement.
Even extra spectacular, albeit extra delicate, is the way in which these 4 motors work collectively. The automobile’s methods alter every motor’s energy output 100 occasions a second to make sure optimum dealing with second to second. Or, put one other approach, the Nevera blasts via and out of tight corners with out hesitation. That’s a trick that different supercars can solely emulate with braking.
It’s an much more spectacular trick given the automobile’s weight, round 5,100 kilos. But as onerous because it could be to imagine, that weight is so properly packaged, with the batteries mounted low and near the Nevera’s heart, that it is hardly noticeable. (Of course, the great energy on faucet helps.)
It’s a handsome automobile, too, low and radical however not excessive. Civilized. It’s well-made, with flawless carbon fiber on the surface and cozy leather-based all through the inside. Croatia would not have a convention of automobile making, however the Nevera does mirror some nationwide satisfaction: In addition to the automobile’s title, the intakes on its sides are styled to resemble a cravat, the ancestor of the trendy necktie — a Croatian invention relationship to the sixteenth century.
The Nevera begins at 2 million euros, or simply over $2.1 million. If that is in your worth vary, converse up quickly. Rimac says it plans to construct simply 150 of them.
Source: www.cnbc.com”