[Blast3r]

Alrighty guys, so I've start a small discussion about Croatian's vehicle manufacturing company called "Rimac Automobili". I think that many of you haven't heard about it which is why I've decided to talk about it a bit.



So, it all started when Mate Rimac's, the CEO, engine blew on his old BMW E30. At that point he decided to move it into Electrical Vehicle with which he seems to quite succeeded.


This is the quote about it which you can find on their website: (I'll put it in code tags so it doesn't take much space on the thread).

Код:

I owned an old BMW E30 (MY 1984) which I used for drift and circuit races. At one of these races, the gas engine blew up. Then I decided to try building an EV. The goal from the beginning was to create a very powerful car. At first I started on my own. I read a lot about other people’s projects who have already converted cars to EVs, and even some who are using EVs for racing. Then I have ordered parts and started to build the car. After one year of development the car was able to drive but I was not satisfied with the result. It was heavy, not very powerful and the range was very limited. I started to collect a team of experts to develop our own components since I believed that the electric propulsion can give much more compared to what was available on the market.

The old BMW has gone through five development phases. Every time we changed almost everything. The power electronics, motors and battery-packs have been replaced each time with more compact, lighter and more powerful developments. The car got faster, lighter and more reliable each time. After three years of development, the first Rimac mule car, the e-M3 became one of the fastest and most exciting electric cars in the world. We realized that there wasn’t much BMW in that car left – this was the trigger for me to develop a car from scratch.”
Mate Rimac
founder of Rimac Automobili
 
Performance: 
Power output (wheels): 404 kW / 550 WHP
Power output (motor): 441 kW / 600 HP
Torque: 900 Nm
Weight: 1150 kg
Stored energy: 24 kWh
 
Range: 180 km
0-100km/h: 3.3 sec.
ј Mile time: 11,3 sec.
Max. speed: 280 km/h

Here's a video about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX-_azD2vNo#t=174


Rimac Concept One


After their great success with the old BMW they started to work on a new car which is called Rimac Concept One and is out there as a concept version for now.

The vehicle itself has 1088 Horse Power which can reach 0-100 km/h (0-60 mph) in 2.8 seconds and can develop a top speed of 305 km/h (It has been limited to 305 km/h so it doesn't spend too much of electricity) and can drive up to 600 kms till it needs to be recharged.


I must say that I never liked Electrical cars but when I saw Rimac One... I changed my opinion.


Here are two videos of the Rimac One:


The recording of one of their tests:


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSfq-uXmnNk[/ame]


You don't even hear the engine sound, which is just amazing.


And their official announce of the car:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaJUZIdDiFw[/ame]


So, what do you think? Do Electrical Vehicles have a chance in the future? I'd say yes!

[IceCube!]

Sure in the future yes, however currantly battery life of the batteries themselves aren't reliable. The more you use it, the quicker your going to need to replace the entire battery. You'd never see one in LeMans as no car without an engine can hold the charge long enough to drive for 24 hours etc. So both actual life and charge life at currantly poor, compared to fuel which is more convenient. Hence hydrids.

On the bright side in the electric cars, you put your foot down and all power is delivered to the wheels instantly you don't need to wait a second for the engine to catch up with you putting your foot down.

Having driven an electric car at an event I wouldn't want one... I hate how quite they are I would have to look at the speedo constantly. I however in my current car, just listen to the engine to gauge its speed like most people.

Electric cars do make a slight Boise BTW, road noise and a quite whine from the "engine"

This is biased anyway as I'm a classic car guy. Electricity has a future if the batteries improve, else no. I however will stick to my classic cars and kill the planet for aslong as possible.

EDIT: Fun fact, I was nearly squished on foot by a electric car going like a bat out of hell on a country lane around a blind bend when I was walking. They can be deadly due to how quite they are.

[dv20]

I Agree with you, the Electrical cars will really have a chance in the future! And I really like this Rimac WOW.It's... just amazing!

[toXioneer]

Heh, I'll see how major oil companies crush these kind of projects... There are quite a few COUNTRIES that depends on their oil... I don't think the oil/gas game will be changed for at least a century.

[IceCube!]

I just thought, from your oil comment ^.

By charging an electrical car your just passing on the carbon foot print to power stations instead. Therefore how are they greener they are still using oil essentially?

Obviously you still have "green" power stations. Such as solor, wind etc the majority however are oil, or coal.

[Blast3r]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceCube! Sure in the future yes, however currantly battery life of the batteries themselves aren't reliable. The more you use it, the quicker your going to need to replace the entire battery. You'd never see one in LeMans as no car without an engine can hold the charge long enough to drive for 24 hours etc. So both actual life and charge life at currantly poor, compared to fuel which is more convenient. Hence hydrids. On the bright side in the electric cars, you put your foot down and all power is delivered to the wheels instantly you don't need to wait a second for the engine to catch up with you putting your foot down. Having driven an electric car at an event I wouldn't want one... I hate how quite they are I would have to look at the speedo constantly. I however in my current car, just listen to the engine to gauge its speed like most people. This is biased anyway as I'm a classic car guy. Electricity has a future if the batteries improve, else no. I however will stick to my classic cars and kill the planet for aslong as possible.

I agree with you, the batteries need improvements but I like that electric cars are actually moving forward as you never know how high fuel prices will actually go and for how long we will actually have the resources.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceCube! EDIT: Fun fact, I was nearly squished on foot by a electric car going like a bat out of hell on a country lane around a blind bend when I was walking. They can be deadly due to how quite they are.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZJjTEmXaf8[/ame]



Here's another photo of Rimac in Beijing:


(It's quite big so I'll just leave a link to it)

http://www.rimac-automobili.com/uplo...s/1_112852.jpg

[vmlinuz]

Sure the throttle response is great and is incredibly quiet but we all need a screaming 4 or 6 cylinder and or a roaring V8 in our life.

[VeggieBoy]

As a green Slovene myself, I love that the electric vehicle game is expanding.

[Hiddos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceCube! I just thought, from your oil comment ^. By charging an electrical car your just passing on the carbon foot print to power stations instead. Therefore how are they greener they are still using oil essentially? Obviously you still have "green" power stations. Such as solor, wind etc the majority however are oil, or coal.

Let's get our shit together and go nuclear then.