The Ariel Motor Company based in Somerset, England has released details of a new two-seat electric sports vehicle that ticks all the right boxes. With 1,180 hp on tap the 4-wheel drive variant hits 100 km/h in 2.5 s and 160 km/h in 3.8 s. A small 35 kW on-board gas turbine generator can recharge the drive batteries allowing the vehicle to travel independent of charge point availability.

The Ariel Hipercar project started life as a research initiative to design a low energy vehicle. The resulting vehicle turned out to be radically different and the company is now in receipt of £ 2 million ($ 2.8 million) funding to help develop the Hipercar project. The vehicle will be available as a 2-wheel or 4-wheel drive version. Each driven wheel has an inboard electric motor supplying power via integral, single speed step-down gearboxes. The motor magnets are radially distributed around the outside of the rotor to achieve a particularly high torque density and reduce mass of the moving parts. Each motor develops 220kW (295bhp) and 450Nm (332 ft lb) of torque. This gives the 4-wheel drive variant a total of 1,180 hp (Total torque: 1800 Nm).

 The car is a Series Hybrid EV (Electric Vehicle) featuring a 750 Volt, 42 kWh or 56kWh, lithium-ion, temperature controlled (using a water-glycol system) battery pack which can be charged, when necessary, by an efficient on-board 35kW micro-turbine range-extender generator developed by Delta Motorsport. This facility should resolve any range-anxiety issues and allow the vehicle to operate independent of a charge-point infrastructure.

According to the company “it will be an expensive car because of the technology involved but when compared to £1m+ supercars (which it will outperform) it’s going to represent excellent value for money. This is the first true electric supercar that will cross continents, drive to town and lap a race track”. The first production model is planned for the coming year and series production is scheduled to begin in 2020.