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The first car to break the 62mph barrier didn’t have an engine.
Built in 1899, the La Jamais Contente was a bullet-shaped prototype powered by a pair of electric motors that zapped the rear wheels into motion. The electric sports car’s future looked bright but it was quickly overshadowed by models equipped with an internal combustion engine. Over 120 years later, electricity is again being glorified as the key that will unlock the next level of driving performance.
However, cars need more than a jaw-dropping 0-62mph time (which is reasonably easy to achieve with an electric powertrain) to qualify for the coveted performance label. Their ultra-quick acceleration must be repeatable without sending the powertrain into limp mode and they have to handle well in spite of lugging around a monstrous battery. Manufacturers involved in racing also need to ensure their EVs can handle abuse on the track.
All told, making an electric sports car is considerably more difficult than building one with cylinders. Here are the manufacturers conquering this challenge:
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Aspark Owl
This oddly named hypercar was unveiled by a Japanese start-up in Dubai and scheduled to enter production in Italy in 2020. Its four motors draw electricity from a 64kWh battery pack to generate 1985bhp, which is enough for a 1.69sec 0-60mph time.
Carbonfibre partially offsets the battery’s mass and helps lower the Owl’s weight to 1900kg. Enthusiast who want to bag one of the 50 examples planned need to send Aspark a non-refundable £42,000 deposit and this big commitment likely explains why it’s not sold out yet.
Base range: 280 miles
Base price: £2.5 million
Available: 2020
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Audi E-Tron GT
After planting its flag in the electric SUV segment, Audi is gearing up to release its first battery-powered saloon. It will arrive as a toned-down version of the E-Tron GT concept introduced at the 2018 Los Angeles motor show, meaning it will be related to the Porsche Taycan under the sheet metal. Autocar learned it will be available in regular, S and RS trims, a strategy which mirrors how the company markets petrol-powered cars like the A6, but its final specifications might not mirror the Porsche’s.
We’ll know precisely how much the E-Tron GT shares with the Taycan when it makes its debut at the 2020 edition of the Los Angeles show. Deliveries will begin in early 2021. PICTURE: Autocar artist impression
Base range: TBD
Base price: TBD
Available: 2021
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Ferrari EV
Technical sketches newly leaked from a patent office shed light on how Ferrari plans to enter the electric car class. While the drivetrain’s output remains a mystery in spite of endless rumours and speculation, the blueprints suggest the firm’s first EV will offer four-wheel drive by assigning an electric motor to each wheel. It will either arrive as a two-seater or with a 2+2 layout and it’s expected to take the form of a low-slung coupe with 812 Superfast-like proportions.
Several hurdles stand in the way of Ferrari’s electric model. Engineers need to cancel out the weight added by the battery pack while ensuring it nonetheless delivers adequate range, even when the car is driven spiritedly for hours on end. And, they’re still figuring out how to substitute Ferrari’s oh-so-typical exhaust note. All told, don’t expect the Italian firm to throw its hat in the electric car ring until 2025 at the earliest. PICTURE: 812 Superfast
Base range: TBD
Base price: TBD
Available: 2025
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Genesis Essentia
Hyundai-owned Genesis quickly elbowed its way into the upper echelons of the automotive industry. In 2018, two years after it launched its first standalone model, it took the wraps off a gorgeous electric GT named Essentia (pictured) at the New York motor show and hinted it previewed a production model.
It teased the coupe again in 2019 when it unveiled the GV80, its first SUV. It stopped short of providing concrete details such as launch timing and a horsepower figure but Hyundai’s investment in Rimac could help Genesis splice Croatian and South Korean genes to create a one-of-a-kind performance EV.
Base range: TBD
Base price: TBD
Available: TBD
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Honda Sports EV
Honda confirmed the platform it developed for the E city car will underpin a full range of electric models in the 2020s and one of them will likely draw inspiration from the 2017 Sports EV concept (pictured). Patent images discovered in 2019 suggest the coupe will arrive in showrooms with an updated design and a silhouette reminiscent of a mid-engined car.
Executives haven’t publicly confirmed the concept will spawn a production model; officially, they’re keeping an eye on demand before making a decision.
Base range: TBD
Base price: TBD
Available: TBD
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Hyundai hot hatch
The mid-engined, Veloster-like hot hatch Hyundai has experimented with for years will run on electricity when it finally makes its debut. Hyundai and Kia jointly made a £67 million investment in Rimac in 2019 and announced the partnership will eventually create “an electric version of the midship sports car.”
Additional details weren’t provided so we don’t know if the hatchback will be exclusively available as an EV or if Hyundai will also offer a petrol- or hybrid-powered version. Interestingly, the firm also said it will leverage its burgeoning partnership with Rimac to build a high-performance fuel cell electric vehicle, which is a truly unique concept. We can’t wait to see it take shape. PICTURE: RM19 concept
Base range: TBD
Base price: TBD
Available: TBD
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Lotus Evija
Lotus is challenging founder Colin Chapman’s light is right motto by developing a 1973bhp, 1680kg hypercar named Evija that’s built around a 70kWh battery pack. It won’t be as nimble to drive around the company’s Hethel test track as an Elise but the bulky battery will improve handling by lowering the centre of gravity. Williams Advanced Engineering is helping Geely-owned Lotus develop the model.
130 examples will be made starting halfway through 2020. Design director Russell Carr told Autocar future additions to the Lotus range will be influenced by the Evija’s styling. It’s not too far-fetched to speculate its electric technology will also trickle down to smaller, more attainable cars.
Base range: 250 miles
Base price: £2 million
Available: 2020
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Maserati GranTurismo, GranCabrio
Maserati confirmed its first electric model will fill the void created by the recently retired GranTurismo (pictured) when it enters production in 2021. Its powertrain is being developed in-house and it’s nearly ready to enter the testing phase. The next GranTurismo – a nameplate that might not return – will arrive as a 2+2 coupe and it will be joined by a convertible replacement for the GranCabrio in 2022.
Looking further ahead, electric technology will spread across the Maserati portfolio. The Italian company promised every model in its range (including a sub-Levante SUV due out soon) will offer an electrified powertrain option, though some cars will settle for hybrid technology instead of going fully electric.
Base range: TBD
Base price: TBD
Available: 2021
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Pagani EV
About 40 cars roll out of Pagani’s workshop each year but exclusivity and a tiny footprint won’t stop the Italian company from plotting an electric future. In 2019, founder Horacio Pagani told Autocar the Huayra’s replacement will make its debut in 2022 with a mighty V12 that’s homologated until 2026. The multi-energy platform found under the yet-unnamed model will underpin the company’s first EV.
Pagani plans to sell V12- and battery-powered cars concurrently for most of the 2020s. It hasn’t revealed when the electric variant will arrive or what it will be capable of in terms of performance and range. PICTURE: Pagani Huayra BC
Base range: TBD
Base price: TBD
Available: TBD
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Pininfarina Battista
Pininfarina is transitioning from a design house and a contract manufacturer to a full-blown carmaker. It’s putting the final touches on a hypercar named Battista developed with technology provided by Rimac. The specifications sheet lists 1900bhp, which is the same output as Rimac’s C_Two, but Pininfarina stressed the two cars won’t be identical because its engineers are tweaking the powertrain. “We will share probably 40-50% of the pure technical components,” CEO Michael Perschke told Autocar.
Battista production is limited to 150 units globally and deliveries are scheduled to start in 2020. Pininfarina plans to branch out into more mainstream segments by releasing three SUVs by 2025.
Base range: 280 miles
Base price: £2 million
Available: 2020
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Porsche 718
Porsche upsized the 718 range by reinstating the flat-six engine in the GTS model but the company’s entry-level sports car could go electric in the not-too-distant future. Lutz Meschke, Porsche’s deputy chairman, told Autocar the 718 Cayman and 718 Boxster are “the right cars to start electrification in [Porsche] sports cars.” We hear the battery-powered 718 could make its debut shortly after the electric Macan arrives in 2022.
Base range: TBD
Base price: TBD
Available: 2022
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Porsche 918 successor
File this one under maybe. Porsche is quietly developing a replacement for the 918 Spyder (pictured) but company boss Oliver Blume told Autocar his team hasn’t decided whether to release the model as a plug-in hybrid or an EV. “In the future, I see a possibility for a hypercar with the next generation of batteries,” he said. He added he’s notably keeping a close eye on how quickly the development of ground-breaking solid-state batteries progresses.
His team has time to mull it over. Spending time and money on developing a low-volume hypercar isn’t a priority for Porsche so the 918’s successor won’t break cover until 2025 at the earliest.
Base range: TBD
Base price: TBD
Available: TBD
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Renault Zoe RS
Our image shows what Renault’s high-performance Zoe could look like when it hits the track for the first time. The French carmaker told Autocar it needs to electrify its RS range to keep up with the competition but it also admitted the Zoe is more difficult to alchemize into a hot hatch than the Clio.
“It will happen the day when the technology road blocks are removed,” Ali Kassai, the company’s planning boss explained in 2019. He’s hoping to see an electric RS model out by 2022. PICTURE: Autocar artist impression
Base range: TBD
Base price: TBD
Available: 2022
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Rimac C_Two
Fittingly called C_Two, the second production car released by Croatia-based Rimac is a 1900bhp coupe capable of reaching 256mph thanks to four electric motors. It should sprint from 0-60mph in under 2.0sec, a figure that, if achieved, will make it one of the quickest production cars in the world, yet it will ultimately be available with Level Four autonomous technology that allows the car to drive itself in a variety of conditions.
Rimac will unveil the production version of the C_Two at the 2020 Geneva motor show and plans to deliver the first of 150 units by the end of the year. It’s already sold out.
Base range: 340 miles
Base price: £2 million
Available: 2020
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Tesla Model S Plaid
Tesla is in the final stages of testing a quicker, more powerful variant of the Model S equipped with a three-motor powertrain called Plaid. Adding a motor will require the use of a bigger battery pack and engineers are tuning the sedan’s chassis on the Nürburgring, where Tesla hopes embarrass Porsche by beating the Taycan’s lap record.
We think the Plaid-spec Model S will also receive flared wheel arches, specific tires plus a body kit that may include a wing. Production will begin in the summer of 2020.
Base range: TBD
Base price: TBD
Available: 2020
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Tesla Roadster
Tesla chose not to immediately replace the original, Lotus-based Roadster in order to focus on more volume-oriented models but it hasn’t given up on the sports car class. The second-generation Roadster unveiled in 2017 will allegedly enter production in either late 2020 or early 2021 with a giant 200kWh battery pack that holds enough electricity for 620 miles of range. Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk also promised a 1.9sec 0-60mph time and a hovercraft mode made possible by using a cold gas thruster system borrowed from SpaceX. All this could be yours for a cool $200,000 (about £154,000).
Keep in mind all of the aforementioned figures are hypothetical because we haven’t seen the Roadster in action yet. And, Tesla is notorious for not meeting the ambitious deadlines it sets. In 2011, Musk told Autocar the Roadster would make a comeback in 2014 and later pushed that date back to 2019.
Base range: 620 miles
Base price: £155,000
Available: 2020
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Volkswagen ID.3R
Our picture shows what the high-performance version of the Volkswagen ID 3 could look like when it arrives by 2024. That’s a long wait considering ID 3 deliveries will begin in 2020 but Jürgen Stackmann, Volkswagen’s sales chief, told Autocar his team first needs to “define what is R in the electric world.” Engineers will use a dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain to make the ID.3R quicker than a Golf GTI. PICTURE: Autocar artist impression
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What about Lamborghini?
Lamborghini has its eye on the electric car segment but its main priority in 2020 is to bring its first hybrid models to the market. It’s working on electrifying the Urus, its best-selling model, and it confirmed the replacement for the Aventador S will receive a V12-electric drivetrain similar to the one packed into the limited-edition, 808bhp Sian FKP 37. All three models will enter production in the early 2020s.
The extraordinarily futuristic Terzo Millennio concept (pictured) unveiled in 2017 shed light on how Lamborghini plans to integrate electric technology into its range. Developed jointly with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it featured in-wheel motors, a super capacitor and structural components capable of storing electricity. This setup is relatively far from production but Lamborghini engineers are working hand-in-hand with MIT researchers to make it a reality.
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And McLaren and Aston Martin?
McLaren explained the electric technology it began testing in 2017 still isn’t ready for production. Its cars must be capable of driving flat-out on a track for at least 30 minutes and building an electric model that ticks this box would require using a gigantic battery pack which would in turn add far too much weight. It warned not to expect a model without pistons before 2025.
In the meantime, McLaren is investing a substantial amount of money into the development of hybrid technology. It’s committed to electrifying its entire range of models by 2023.
As for Aston Martin, in its recent corporate statements accompanying its refinancing effort it's now saying any all-electric models will not arrive before 2025, three years or so later than originally planned. Building the future isn't always easy or quick.
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Haven’t we been here before?
Some automakers started preparing for the electric sports car segment’s exponential growth many years ago. In 2010, Audi introduced a battery-powered R8 named E-Tron (pictured) fitted with a four-motor, 309bhp drivetrain that unlocked a 124mph top speed. The on-again, off-again project spawned a production car unveiled at the 2015 Geneva motor show and built in very limited numbers.
Across Germany, the SLS Electric Drive that Mercedes-Benz unveiled at the 2012 Paris motor show also used four electric motors but they delivered 740bhp; it was the world’s fastest EV at the time. Autocar hailed it as an astounding achievement in spite of its 155-mile range. Fewer than 100 units were sold.
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