Electric supercar Rimac Concept Two: no car for the Sunday excursion (Image: Dirk Kunde)
The Croatian sports car manufacturer Rimac presents its electric Concept Two in Geneva. The two-seated electric car It reaches 412 km / h and up to 650 km range.
From Dirk customer
It’s just a small detail, but a vent slot cover is intended as an allusion to the origin of the Croatian super sports car. At the Geneva Motor Show, Mate Rimac, the eponymous founder of the electric car manufacturer, presented his second concept car. The cover in front of the rear wheels has the shape of a tie. “Croatian soldiers had tied their scarf in the fight against Napoleon like a tie,” explains Adriano Mudri, Director of Design at Rimac, the origin of the term and thus the shape of the cover.
Rimac refers to the Concept Two (C_Two) also as GT Hypercar. It accelerates from a standstill in less than two seconds to 100 km / h. Tesla’s new roadster needs 2.1 seconds and has a top speed of 400 km / h. The C_Two manages 412 km / h. “It could actually be faster, but the tires are the limiting factor here,” says Mudri.
The battery stores 120 kWh, which is enough for 650 km (NEDC). Of the new Tesla Roadster is 200 kWh and should create 1,000 km. Four separate engines drive the wheels on the Rimac (1,914 hp, 1,408 kW and 2,300 Nm of torque). Equipped is the sports car with hardware for autonomous driving in level 4. Six cameras, five radar and twelve ultrasonic sensors and a lidar sensor provide a picture of the environment.
Of course you want to drive such a sports car yourself, but six driving modes support the driver. In addition to easier drifting there is the Driving Coach. He’s meant for the racetrack. He gives tips on the ideal braking and steering point on a race track. But you can also drive against the Concept Two. The car returns the first lap time in autonomous mode, after which the driver tries to undercut the lap time.
The company with around 350 employees is located in a suburb of Zagreb. Founder Mate Rimac is also referred to as Elon Musk of the Balkans. The racing driver converted a BMW to electric drive in 2007 before founding his company in 2009.
An accident made Rimac known
The name Rimac became known to a wider public last summer as a result of a spectacular accident. Richard Hammond, TV presenter of The Grand Tour, shot over the finish line in Switzerland with the Rimac Concept One and crashed down a slope where the car went up in flames. Hammond was pulled out of the car and had to be treated in the hospital. When asked if the accident helped the brand awareness, Mudri becomes monosyllabic and does not quite like it.
Rimac not only builds supercars, but also configures battery packs for other manufacturers. Customers include Aston Martin and the Swedish company Koenigsegg. The volume of battery production is to be expanded from the current 100 per year to up to 10,000 in the coming years.
The electric supercar Rimac Concept Two (Image: Rimac)
The Concept Two does not open a key, but a face recognition. Afterwards driver and passenger take place in the monocoque made of carbon fiber. In addition to the three screens, aluminum wheels and knobs provide a classic car feeling. As usual in supercars, you sit extremely deep. Here you do not squat down, but next to the battery. The designer emphasizes in conversation that the Concept Two is not a Sunday excursion car.
The cooling system ensures that the battery does not overheat and limits its power output. “We’ll be able to do two full laps on the famous Nürburgring at race speed without a noticeable drop in performance,” says Mudri. This is also ensured by a low air resistance coefficient of 0.28.
The electric driving pleasure has its price: it starts at 1.7 million euros. Who orders now, can count on the Concept Two in the first quarter of 2020.