The Electric Underdog - Rimac Automobili

Rimac Automobili is a family of enthusiasts, engineers and designers on their quest to discover new ways of making cars faster located in Croatia. Mainly concentrating on electric cars, Rimac will be unveiling the production version of their Rimac Concept_One electric supercar. But how did it all start?

The BMW E-M3

Owning a BMW E30, Mate Rimac used it for drift and circuit races, but when his gas engine blew up, he was determined to find a way to create a very powerful car that was reliable. Starting on his own, ordering parts and building the first version of the car after a year of work, he 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.” Rimac said, and thus began the further developement of the E-M3 and after three years they had a car that was faster, lighter and more reliable.
The product was the perfect mixture between the old-school look and new technology.

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.
¼ Mile time: 11,3 sec.
Max. speed: 280 km/h

Rimac Concept_One

So what’s the idea behind the Concept_One (Yes it’s actually spelled like that), Rimac says “We started with a blank sheet of paper. The idea was to create an exceptional supercar with a new propulsion concept.” and if you ask me, thats just what they did, offering a minimalistic yet eye catching design, and outstanding performance that would give the Tesla cars a run for their money, id go as far as to say it could take on the mighty Phil!

Technology

Let’s look at some performance figures, what gives the supercar it’s mighty 800kW (1088HP), a 0-100kmh (0-62mph) figure of 2.6 seconds, and a top speed of 355 km/h (220mph) ?

The powertrain is divided into four sub-systems, each consisting of one motor, inverter and reduction gearbox. Each of those systems drives one wheel, completely independent one from the other. This architecture allows a new approach to vehicle dynamics, called All Wheel Torque Vectoring (AWTV).

One of the biggest problems for the company was finding a way to store as much power and energy as possible but still keeping the package small, light and efficient. The design was optimized during lab and real - world tests in prototypes until all goals were satisfied. A very sophisticated Active Battery Management System (A - BMS) is monitoring and balancing each cell separately.
To keep it simple, all of this gave the Concept_one a 82kWh battery which can deliver or receive (during Regen-braking) over one Megawatt of power constantly. That means its damn fast, and suitable for track (or hooning) use because it won’t be causing you any “thermal problems”.

Torque Vectoring is something that’s been thrown around CT for a while now, especially with the arrival of the new Ford Focus RS, but how is it used in the Concept_One?
Rimac actually uses its own version, called Rimac All Wheel Torque Vectoring System (R-AWTV) which distributes the power to each single wheel in every situation based on various input factors. This system gives the Concept_One unique handling characteristics which can be adjusted by the driver. The driver can choose between a neutral and safe (understeer oriented) setup. Alternatively, if the driver has more skills and confidence, an oversteer setup can be chosen.
With all this said, there are rumors that the Concept_One will have a “Drift Mode” much like the new RS.

I will be concluding this post with a detailed Spec sheet of the Concept_One. Tell me what you think about it, and sorry for any mistakes, this is my first blog post, and i dedicated it to a domestic car maker that no one seems to know about.
Cheers from Croatia!

Performance

Maximum power: 1088 KS (800 kW)
Maximum torque: 1600 Nm from 0 to 6500 rpm
Top speed: 355 km/h
Acceleration: 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) 2,6 seconds; 0-200 km/h 6,2 seconds; 0-300 km/h 14,2 seconds
Braking distance: 31.5m (100-0 km/h)
Lateral g-force: 1.4 g
Charging: 22 kW on-board charger, DC-Combo fast charger (up to 120kW)
Power to weight: 588 HP/T

Dimensions

Weight: 1850 kg
Length: 4187 mm
Width: 1842 mm
Height: 1070 mm
Front tires: Pirelli P Zero 245/35 R20,
Rear tires: Pirelli P Zero 295/30R 20
Weight distribution: 42% front, 58% rear

Battery package

Voltage: 650V nominal
Capacity: 82 kWh
Rimac Automobili Battery and Thermal Management Systems

Chassis

Cro-Mo space-frame with aluminium and carbon fibre semi-stressed members
Front and rear suspension: Double wishbones, fully adjustable, pushrod operated
Hydraulically adjustable ride height

Powertrain

Front: Rimac Automobili D-PM-OC-500 – high speed dual permanent magnet oil cooled motors, 500 kW peak, 12.000 RPM, up to 97% efficiency.
2 single speed gearboxes
Rear: Rimac Automobili D-PM-OC-600 – high speed dual permanent magnet oil cooled motors, 600 kW peak, 12.000 RPM, up to 97% efficiency. Two double clutch two-speed gearboxes.
Rotor and stator oil cooling
Milled aluminium housings

Steering system

Electro-hydraulic servo system

Brakes

Front brakes: Ventilated ceramic discs Ø 390 mm, 36 mm wide. 6-piston callipers, power-assisted.
Rear brakes: Ventilated ceramic discs Ø 380 mm, 34 mm wide. 4-piston callipers, power-assisted.
Up to 400 kW of regen-braking (adjustable)

Safety Systems

ABS
Torque Vectoring with stability function
Safety disconnect systems in case of a crash
Multiple ECU architecture for monitoring of safety-relevant electronic systems

Body

Full carbon-fibre body

And last but not least, a gallery with some sexy bonus pics!