gave Never Is of Rimac The first “series production” car, following the Croatian company’s first model, the Concept_One.
Although the latter was also an electric hypercar, the two models have nothing in common, as the Nivara was built from the ground up as a new car with almost every component manufactured in-house.
It has four electric motors, giving the carbon-tubbed coupe enough performance to remake what the Nivara claims is the world’s fastest electric car.
Only 150 examples. will be remade and still has production slots available. To see what all the fuss was about, we traveled to Zagreb for a factory tour before taking the Nivera for a drive on the road and track.
Rimac even let us use a crazy drift mode to melt some tires.
How much does Rimac Nevera cost?
It’s not cheap.
Pricing begins. €2 million ($3.16 million) in Europe. There are three standard trim levels to choose from: GT, Signature and Timeless.
Naturally, customers can choose to trim and equip according to their taste as far as their budget will stretch.
All vehicles will be built in left hand drive. As mentioned earlier, worldwide production is limited to 150 units.
What is the Rimac Nevera like on the inside?
As you’d expect from an insanely expensive hypercar, even getting into the Nivara is an experience.
Underneath is a bespoke carbon fiber tub that accommodates a large H-shaped battery pack, but Rimac designed it all in-house, so the battery is packaged so that the driver and passenger are underneath the vehicle. can sit
Despite this, and extremely low roofline, entry and exit are made easier by butterfly doors that incorporate part of the roof and side sills.
You sit on figure-hugging bucket seats as per Remake specifications by Subbelt, and the choice of upholstery is up to you – although the Matt Remake; The founders of the company, would prefer if you choose one of the ‘vegan’ finishes.
Whichever takes your fancy, the Nivera’s cabin is adorned with bespoke switchgear – even the infotainment software is an in-house creation.
Beneath the central touchscreen is a bank of solid physical buttons, while Rimac is rightly proud of its large spread stalk controls that push, pull or rotate to allow the driver to choose from a myriad of driving modes. can go.
It’s a welcome analogue touch in what is undoubtedly a digital-bred car.
However, we’re not so convinced about the steering wheel, which has Ferrari-like buttons for indicators, but beyond that is a brilliantly sharp digital screen with customizable instruments.
What’s under the bonnet?
We have mentioned the H-shaped battery pack. It has one. 120kWh Theoretical range capacity of up to 480 km Among the accusations
Rimac has designed its own AC onboard charger, while also providing the Nevera with up to 500kW of DC charging capability – faster than any Australian EV charger at the moment.
Speaking of acceleration, the battery sends energy to four electric motors, two in the front and two in the back, all independently controlled.
Maximum power is quoted. 1408 kWBacked up by 1740Nm of torque. Rimac had planned to use a two-speed transmission, a technique used on the Porsche Taycan, but instead designed its own motors and their operation to use a single-speed gearbox.
According to the remake, the Nivera can comfortably hit 100 km/h in just over 100 km/h. 1.97 secondsDespite the weight 2150 kg. It recently moved to the top 412 km per hour To set a new world record for electric cars, although customer vehicles can only be driven at such speeds after special preparation by the factory to ensure the tires are in good condition etc.
Encouragingly, the launch control facility can be used at any time without pre-heating the battery pack or anything else – and more than 1000kW is available even with the battery at 30 per cent charge.
How does Rimac Nevera work?
Despite the headline-grabbing figures and hypercar billing, Rimac is adamant that the Nevera is also designed to play the GT car role.
To convince us, the company lets us drive on a busy highway, then a narrow and twisty back road with a greasy surface, and finally through a small town before we arrive at a test track. To really push the car to its limits.
Key to the Nevera’s wide range of capabilities is adaptive damping and active ride height adjustment. However, there is a large host of subsystems that are adapted to the selected driving mode.
On the road, the driver chooses between Range (for maximum efficiency), Cruise for comfortable long-distance driving and Sport for greater focus and responsiveness.
There is a clear difference between the three, as the steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire systems, aerodynamics, ride height, damping, throttle response and front-to-rear torque distribution have all been adjusted. Proprietary torque vectoring system. All of these elements can be tweaked by the driver and saved in one of two custom modes.
The brakes feel a little awkward at everyday traffic speeds, but the steering is lively and seemingly full of information. Although the Nevera feels a little too wide for urban driving, visibility is good, so it gives the driver confidence to use the car.
On fast, but damp, roads, which is reinforced because the slight rear slip is clearly communicated to the driver and easy to correct.
Through it all, the Nivera’s performance eases rather than dominates the experience. In its softest setting, the suspension is still firm, but the car moves with the surface, so it’s not uncomfortable on the highway.
This is not what you call quiet. The Remake thankfully avoids the temptation to come up with its artificial noise signature, but the motors do make their own distinctive sound, rising in pitch as you travel faster. It’s very different from the internal combustion engine note, but it’s interesting in its own way.
That excitement kicks up a few notches when we hit the circuit and try out the track and drift modes. The latter is just silly, making it laughably easy to melt tires into a cloud of smoke if you have the space and inclination.
Interestingly, Rimac doesn’t just use the rear motors for this trick, but selectively sends energy to the front motors as well, allowing the driver to see royalty flowing without too much effort.
The Nivara is even more impressive if you try to drive it fast on the track without showboating. The torque vectoring system uses all four motors to give the car what it needs to point to the driver’s intent and yet, somehow, it still feels engaging and as if you’re part of the process.
It eats up routes of any length in a ridiculously short amount of time, so it takes a few laps for your brain to catch up and realize you need to start braking a little earlier. But the Neura is also quite forgiving, and the brakes are excellent in this environment.
This is an electric car you’ll want to use on the track, that’s for sure.
what do you get
Aerodynamics
- Active ingredients
- Bonnet
- Front underbody flap
- Rear diffuser
- Back arm
Chassis and structure
- Carbon fiber monocoque
- Bonded carbon fiber roof
- Carbon fiber rear subframe
- Carbon fiber, aluminum crash structures
- Electro-hydraulic brakes
- Break-by-wire functionality
- Disruption
- Pedal feel simulator
- 390 mm 6 piston brakes (front and rear)
ADAS hardware
- 13 cameras
- 6 Radar
- 12 Ultrasonic sensors
Safety systems
- Dual front, side airbags
- Torque vectoring
- Traction control
- Stability control
Tire
- Michelin Pilot Sport 4S
- 275/35 R20 front
- 315,35 R20 rear
CarExpert’s take on the Rimac Nevera
While the Nevera undoubtedly lives up to its inflated set of performance numbers, it’s even more special than they let on.
It is one of the most high-tech cars in the world, made by a Croatian company that is fresh-faced and modern. Sure, it’s extremely expensive, and there are some quirks to get used to, but equally, there’s very little like it on the market.
Think of it as part of this company’s stellar beginnings, and the price doesn’t seem too crazy compared to the old-school supercars on the market.
We have no doubt that the remake has a bright future ahead of it – hopefully it will eventually make its way to Australia.
Click on the images for the full gallery.
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