Small auto companies often make fanciful claims, and we?ll understand if you attach a degree of skepticism to the announcement that a British automaker with fewer than 50 employees is planning a 1200 horsepower electric performance car that also will feature a turbine engine operating as a range extender, and that it will accelerate from rest to 150 mph in just 7.8 seconds.
Yet this company is Ariel, which has successfully produced both the skeletal Atom sports car and its more rugged Nomad sibling, and which has a history of delivering on its stated ambitions, however grandiose. The HIPERCAR project (standing for HIgh PERformance CArbon Reduction) involves showing a prototype that already has been substantially developed with the help of funding from both the British government and various technical partners, and we?re told that the car will be on sale in 2020.
Pitched as a showcase for what British automotive engineering can do, the HIPERCAR uses a UK-developed motor, gearbox, battery, control electronics, and chassis. Both rear- and all-wheel-drive versions are under development, with these built to use 750-volt battery packs of 42-kWh or 56-kWh capacity. These can be recharged on the move by a 47-hp gasoline-burning micro-turbine range extender that can spin at 12,000 rpm.
Ariel says its driven wheels are turned by inboard-mounted motors that produce 295 hp and 332 lb-ft each?and that weigh just 88 pounds each?giving a total output of 590 hp in two-wheel drive form an...