Rimac Automobili: The Electric Uprising
Electrification of cars, is the topic which never needs to be formally introduced to us petrolheads. In this recent years there is the gradual transformation of petrolheads to electroheads which is as a result of major electrification of cars. The first pioneer who saw the future of electric cars, which was blamed by the public for its massive weight and charge anxiety and many more, the one who took the initiative to start manufacturing of electric cars who saw the scope of electric cars and the one who showed the courage to start it was none other than Elon Musk the CEO of Space X and Tesla motors. The Space X is the one for those space nuts currently not the one we are going to discuss but Tesla, the automotive company which showed the public that it is possible to make electric cars and run it smoothly without any kind of range anxiety or other kind of worries. With the line up of about six cars, the Model S Model 3 Model X Model Y and the Roadster Tesla grew rapidly from just being an electric car manufacturer to a Multinational business tycoon. Tesla cars are famous for their instantaneous acceleration and the extreme torque and power delivery along with silent floating feel and zero exhaust emissions. The Tesla models also comes with many of the high advanced technologies like the autopilot, massive touch screen and had breathtaking acceleration of 0-100 in 1.9 - 2 seconds along with the futuristic design. So simply saying within a few years Tesla become drastically popular and became the trend setter in the electric car segment. Tesla remained the uncrowned king of the segment gaining popularity and trust among the public. But the year 2009 saw a Croatian guy named Mate Rimac start an automotive manufacturing company named Rimac Automobili. Initially everybody ignored it but they announced their determination with their first model the Concept 1 or Rimac Concept 1. So lets have a brief about the Rimac Automobili and their first fully fledged electric hyper-car model Nevera.
Rimac Automobili, the folks from Croatia made their debut to the world automotive market in 2009 and the captain of the ship is this guy named Mate Rimac who has intense passion towards cars. Mate Rimac initially started working on cars as a hobby and eventually he realized that this was his way of finding happiness. Rimac converted his BMW M3 E30 from internal combustion to electric power-train which went viral around and caught media attention and attracted investors to it. Being motivated by that incident the guy from Croatia started the electric car manufacturing facility which was later named as Rimac Automobili, he got the initial investment s from ‘Angel Investors’ and finance was settled by selling the patents he got. Founded in 2009 Rimac Automobili is headquartered in the city of Sveta Nedelja, near Zagreb, Croatia. Mate Rimac was an automotive enthusiast who went on circuit racing and drift races with his 1984 BMW 3 sires E30. And in one of that races when his car blew up Mate thought of converting the internal combustion engine into the electric motors which turned out to the starting of Rimac Automobili. As he started the electrification of his E30 M3 he was not satisfied with the initial stage conversion as it had many issues like heavy weight, low range and less powerful. So to improvise his project, Rimac gathered a group of experts and started manufacturing their own parts. He said that “I believed that the electric propulsion could give much more compared to what was available on the market. At that time, I already had a very clear vision of my ultimate goal. Today, hard work is making my dream come true.” When the Rimac E-M3 went viral out in the world many of the famous companies was interested in buying the assets of Rimac and in 2018 Porsche Engineering Group GmbH, the engineering subsidiary of Volkswagen group from Germany bought 10% stakes of the Rimac Automobili to form development partnership as a part of the electrification process. And as Mate said the partnership with Porsche was another turning point which was indeed required to take out the maximum potential of Rimac Automobili, here Rimac Automobili acted as a supplier of components and system for the electrification process.
And in the year 2021 Porsche and Rimac officially gave hands for a joint venture with the folks from France, Bugatti, the ultimate name of speed in the collaboration event at Dubrovnik Croatia. The news of the collaboration was out on September 2020 and that created a massive shock in the automotive field. This event was the aftermath of Rimac Automobile's consistent try to to buy Bugatti from Volkswagen, every automotive enthusiasts were excited to see the uprising of Rimac and many of them criticized the move as a dump one especially because Rimac Automobili was a rookie compared to Bugatti being the ace of the game. But for their surprise Rimac made the move to start a joint venture with Bugatti along with the help of Porsche. The extraordinary event of the year took place in 6 th July 2020 and with all their work and dedication Rimac has turned into worlds best electric hyper-car manufacturer from Croatia. And now Rimac has took down Tesla, the well known king of the segment from their position of having the most powerful electric car with their new model the Nevera. Rimac Automobili is the best employer in their hometown Croatia and they have a bunch of milestones which includes experience of over 12 years in making, production spread over 10 locations giving job to over 1000 employees which include more than 500 engineers and have 12 OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)costumers. Rimac also holds 5 world records and as I said earlier Rimac is the best employer in Croatia. According to Mate Rimac, the CEO of Rimac Automobili, the companies working is divided into two sub groups, the first group focus on supplying technologies and components, which produces KERS hybrid battery systems for Aston Martin's new super sports car, the Valkyrie, battery systems for Koenigsegg specifically for the Regera, Jaguar E-type Zero concept car and SEAT Cupra e-Racer concept car. In 2018 Rimac entered in technical partnership with Automobili Pininfarina is said to be based on the same architecture and uses the same power train as the Nevera. And the second group focus on the manufacturing of electric hyper-cars, a two in one shot!. On the collaboration event at Croatia Mate explained in brief about the new construction and future projects of the Rimac Automobili which include the Rimac campus where the factory and a research facility is budding out.
The unofficial announcement of the electric hyper high performance car from Rimac Automobili, the Nevera also took place there at the fabulous occasion. As Mate said Nevera is capable of clocking quarter-mile time in 9 seconds which is shocking performance by a stock electric car. There where a bunch of electric hyper-cars manufactured by the hyper-car production subgroup Rimac they include:
E- M3 E30: The first car of Mate Rimac and first unofficial car of Rimac Automobili. Mate created the Rimac E-M3 as an aftermath of the incident which took place in one of the races he used to go. When his car was totaled with the lightning hit he thought of converting his internal combustion M3 to electric motors. Rimac's first car was a converted 1984 BMW M3 E 30 called the Rimac e-M3, nicknamed the "Green Monster" by the designers working for the company. With a 0–100 km/h acceleration achieved in 3.3 seconds, it earned the title of fastest-accelerating electric vehicle in Category A, Group VIII which is the electric vehicle category and Class 3 ie over 1,000 kg in 2011. Technically the "green monster" develops 442 kW 593 hp and 900 NM of torque, reaches 100 km/h from a standstill in 3.3 s and has a top speed of 280 km/h|174 mph. Five development updates pushed the E-M3 to become the officially fastest-accelerating electric vehicle according to strict FIA rules.
Concept One: The Concept One is an all-electric battery-powered sports car, the first official electric hyper-car made by the folks from Croatia. With a curb weight of 1,850 kg, and a power output of 960 kW or 1,287 hp, the Concept One can reach 100 km/h from a standstill in 2.6 seconds and continue to accelerate to a top speed of 355 km/h | 221 mph. 92 kWh of energy in the battery modules deliver enough energy to permit 600 km of range. The car was first unveiled in 2011 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, when some parts were contracted to other companies. The production version was introduced in 2016. A production of 88 units was initially stated, which was later limited to 8 units, all of which were sold. The first car was for Spanish company Applus+ IDIADA, called the Volar-e. The second buyer is Paul Runge, one of the shareholders of Rimac Automobili. the concept one is also infamous by the crash incident took place at Croatia, where the presenter Richard Hammond From The Grand Tour crashed it on a hill climb racing event.
Concept S: The Concept S is a lighter, more powerful and more aerodynamic, track-oriented update or the 'evil twin' of the Concept One, the second model or the more updated electric hyper-car. The four electric motors can deliver 1,032 kW or 1,384 hp, enabling the Concept S to accelerate from 0–100 km/h in 2.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 365 km/h that is 227 mph. At the 2017 Geneva Motor Show the company announced the establishment of official dealerships of its brand in Europe, North America and the Middle East, with dealers Manhattan Motorcars, PACE Germany and Al Zarooni Group. Yeah improvising as per experiment!.
Nevera: The successor to the Concept One, named Nevera, which is renamed from Concept Two, styled as C_Two, was unveiled at the March 2018 Geneva Motor Show. The car was totally re-designed including new features in cosmetics and technical stuffs which include butterfly doors and various power upgrades. The four updated electric motors produce a total of 1,427 kW 914 hp and 2,300 NM of torque. The carbon fibre body construction results in a total weight of 1,950 kg, including the heavy battery packs. The Nevera claims to be able to accelerate from 0–97 km/h or 0–60 mph in 1.85 seconds and achieve a top speed of 415 km/h that is 258 mph.
Rimac Nevera; The Croatian Storm!
Now lets have a deeper dive onto the Croatian Storm; the Rimac Nevera. Rimac Nevera is the $2M electric hyper car from the Croatian automaker Rimac Automobili. The Nevera, code named the Concept 2 is derived from the predecessors concept 1 and concept S. The name “NEVERA” denotes the Croatian, unexpected strong and fast Mediterranean storm and symbolizes the character of the Croatian electric hyper car. The design of Nevera is highly in compliance with the absolute utilization of aerodynamics and weight reduction. Front face of the Nevera is really derived from the predecessor the Concept 1. In the front Nevera is given carbon fibre nose and the side panels, the side panels are actually air duct which is incorporated as a part of the active aerodynamic system. There is a thin air dam in between the two carbon fiber finished air curtains and at the bottom sits the body colored front lip which is given a sharp design at both the ends convenient for a sports hyper-car to be. The hood houses a massive air duct which can be closed and opened as per requirement and it feed air to cool the electric motor a component of active aerodynamics also enables the free flow of air from front to rear thus reducing the drag coefficient and enabling more millage. There is an AC unit which start functioning to cool the motors as soon as the arid duct is closed, which can happen due to the high hot climate. There is no much cuts and creases on the hood apart form the central bulge which is an element of the hood scoop or air duct. The headlamp unit is placed sleek and aggressively on both sides and the unit include one high and low beam LED head lamps bordered by the LED DRL strips creating a nice border to it. The front end is pretty clean with no cuts other than the one in between the hood and front nose.
The side profile is also integrated with ducts for the aero. The doors and the rear quarter of the side profile houses the air duct which is given carbon fibre accents and lights as an ‘Electronic’ approach and complements to the design elements. The wing mirrors are also finished with carbon fibre. The side profile is aggressive with the duct lines which acts as character lines and make it more aggressive. The wheel arches, which houses the big 21 inch wheels and the tyres are incorporated in 21 inch 9 spoke alloys and the alloys are finished in a futuristic style and is also integrated with sensor locking feature, the disc breaks are also clearly visible and the calipers are finished with gloss black and is given white stripe design, are the are sharp and is a connection link between the air duct at the front and the one at the side profile. The air duct at the initial quarter of the is also finished with carbon fibre and is also given the writing “NEVERA” on it in the futuristic Rimac font and is given a chrome finish. The duct merges out with the tail as it reaches the rear end. The window is bordered with black stripes and the windows are small too.
The rear end is a bit sophisticated as it looks with the massive air flow openings and rear diffusers finished in carbon fibre. The rear end of the Nevera is equipped with an electrically adjustable rear wing and the rear wing also acts as the air break which extensively helps in the breaking of he car. The wing holders are finished in carbon fibre and the rear end also reflects the extensive use of active aerodynamics. The rear wing is equipped with a thin LED rear light strip, and the tail lamps are housed at both the ends. The thin LED tail lamps are sharp and attractive. Now the bottom panel of the rear end is integrated with electrically adjustable rear diffuser which again helps in the flawless working of active aerodynamics. The rear end is totally adorned with carbon fibre, the central line on the rear end houses the back cameras and on the right quarter sits the name badge “NEVERA” finished in chrome. The roof-line too is designed to help the active aero function and the sloping design complement s to the hyper-car stance of Nevera. The chassis of the Nevera is finished in carbon fibre which helps in extreme weight reduction, the only portion which is not carbon fibre is the front and rear crash barriers. Overall the look wise from outside the Nevera is having the common trait of hyper-cars, low profile hyper-car stance with the massive wheels projecting out in the side profile and the ultimate use of aerodynamics is made possible by the sleek and aerodynamic design. Cool to be the hyper-car and carbon fibre is used extensively for weight reduction.
The Nevera is equipped with butterfly doors which is essential character of a hyper-car, so opening it and getting in, the door pads are given black handle on the inside and it has written RIMAC on it. Cockpit of the Croatian electric hyper-car is finished in honey orange colored leather upholstery along with piano black and carbon fibre accents, the color combo of the cockpit is really impressive and warming sight to the eyes. The Rimac multi-functional steering wheel is covered with honey orange leather on the outer ring and inner hub is given carbon fibre and black combo finish. The interesting point in here is there is small thick blue insert on the upper end of the steering ring and the hub is extravagantly finished with carbon fibre and gloss black which houses all the multimedia control and other stuff. Right at the center sits the Rimac logo which makes the steering wheel feel pretty similar to that of a McLaren. The bottom deck of the dashboard is also given the honey orange leather finish and the steering column and the meter console is immersed in carbon fibre. The instrument console is really futuristic well designed and well placed and the central portion of the dashboard reflects extensive use of carbon fibre and gloss black accents, also it houses the AC vents on both sides and control buttons, start stop buttons and the infotainment screen. Starting from the drivers side the central portion houses the AC vents which is finished with black and given aluminum accents and right below it sits the push button start stop. On the middle there is the infotainment screen which is equipped with all kind of features like apple car play and android auto, also there are two mode selection rotary knobs one for the driving mode and the other for power output level. The first knob is used for drive selection and it is equipped with an inner ring which is used for the torque vectoring. On the passenger side there is a small screen placed to scare the co driver! Yeah so be prepared before you go! Which shows the speed of the car. The upper deck of the front dashboard and the roof are finished with alcantara leather, a good place and feel to touch. The seats are finished with honey orange lather with the electric blue embroideries. The headrests are embroidered with a Rimac logo on it with the same color and “RIMAC” writing on the shoulder region finished in blue. The interior is fully finished with honey orange and carbon fibre and everything has been put together well in place. The interior is highly incorporated with storage pockets in every corner along with the boot-space at the back end of about hundred liters but there is one condition you can completely utilize the 100 liters without leaving an inch only if you have the bags from Rimac.
The most interesting part of the Nevera is the technical stuff. Rimac Nevera is equipped with the largest pure carbon fibre chassis in the world and the only non carbon fibre part is the front and rear crash structures and this car is sitting on a double wishbone suspension equipped with adaptive damping system which means you can control the dampers from the infotainment screen. The carbon fibre chassis, carbon fibre elements on the body and interior along with the active aerodynamics is making this Croatian electric hyper car achieve the 0-100 in about 1.85 seconds, just blink your eyes and its gone!. The four updated electric motors produce a total of 1,427 kW that is 1,914 hp and 2,300 NM which is about 1,696 lb ⋅ ft of torque. The carbon fibre body construction results in a total weight of 1,950 kg , including the heavy battery packs. Now these are some great numbers here!. And finally this car is priced at about $2M.
Verdict on the Rimac Nevera is that its all about numbers and performance. The design and features are not the best thing to be emphasized in front of the extreme performance. An electric hyper-car with jaw dropping performance and aggressive style. Achieving extreme performance with the help of high end aerodynamic design and extensive use of carbon fibre, the Nevera is definitely something big and ultimately the quad electric motors are enormously powerful so buckle up before you go! Really worthy for enthusiast weekend clean green drives, and for some adrenaline junky hooligan kind of drives. Negative point is that it is not a perfect family car. But it is best clean toy for guys with a lot off money to spend on.
So this is all about the Croatian guys, Rimac Automobili! See you again with another post another day!, Adios! Thank you! Follow me on Instagram @petrofestauto. Feel Free to comment your opinion in the comment section.