Rimac Concept One

Rimac Concept One at a glance

The Concept One is the first Rimac road car; its successor is described in our article on the Rimac Concept Two, and the company's early days in Rimac Automobili presents a promising electric car. All models are listed in the Rimac catalogue.

History: from a garage to Frankfurt

Rimac Automobili was founded in 2009 in Sveta Nedelja, growing out of Mate Rimac's hobby of converting cars in his garage. High-performance electric components were not available on the market, so the company developed and built most parts itself and patented 24 innovations along the way.

The first test car was a 1984 BMW 3 Series with an electric drivetrain of 442 kW (601 PS). In April 2011 it set five FIA-sanctioned acceleration records. Later that year the Concept One made its debut at the Frankfurt motor show, and in 2012 it was shown at the Paris Concours d'Elegance.

The first car was delivered in January 2013 to a customer in Spain who remained anonymous. Rimac had originally planned 88 cars, but only eight were built before production ended in November 2014. The final version of the car was presented at the Geneva motor show in March 2016.

Electric powertrain

Each wheel has its own liquid-cooled permanent-magnet synchronous motor. Together the four motors produce 913 kW (1,241 PS) and 1,600 Nm. Because every wheel is driven separately, Rimac's "All Wheel Torque Vectoring System" can distribute power precisely between them, and the car can be set to drive the front wheels, the rear wheels or all four equally.

The battery has a capacity of 92 kWh and uses lithium iron phosphate cells. The infobox on Wikipedia gives a range of 330 km; the text cites 349 km, and the 2017 update lists 350 km.

The figures changed as Rimac developed the car between the Frankfurt show car of 2011 and the final version shown at Geneva in 2016, so the table lists them by version; the speed limit, for example, rose from 340 to 356 km/h. The best recorded quarter-mile time is 9.9 seconds. In 2017 the car set an electric-car speed record at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Design and chassis

The exterior was designed by Adriano Mudri and the interior by Goran Popović. The body is carbon fibre, and the car stops with carbon-ceramic brakes. With a length of 4,548 mm, a width of 1,854 mm and a height of only 1,198 mm, it is a compact two-seater. It weighs 1,850 kg.

Concept S and other versions

Concept S (2016). A sharper version limited to two cars, with 1,032 kW (1,384 hp), 50 kg less weight and an aerodynamic package giving 34% more downforce. It reaches 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds and has a top speed of 365 km/h. Inside, it has racing bucket seats with four-point harnesses and Alcantara trim.

E-Runner Concept One. A special version for the Pikes Peak hill climb, with 1,100 kW (1,500 PS), finished second overall in 2015 driven by Nobuhiro Tajima.

The Concept One technology was also used elsewhere: in 2014 a car served as the director's car in the first season of Formula E, and the Volar-e, built with Applus+ IDIADA at the end of 2014, used a 38 kWh battery for about 200 km of range.

The Grand Tour crash

On 10 June 2017 a Concept One crashed while being filmed for the second series of The Grand Tour at the Hemberg hill climb in Switzerland. Driven by Richard Hammond, the car left the road, rolled 110 m down a slope and caught fire. Hammond survived with a broken leg.

Timeline

Reception and legacy

Reviews were mixed but impressed by the performance. Evo gave the car three and a half stars out of five in 2016, Road & Track praised its rigidity and quietness, and Jeremy Clarkson said it was faster than anything he had driven "by a huge, huge margin". In 2018 the IEEE included it among its Top 10 Tech Cars.

The Concept One proved that a small Croatian start-up could build an electric hypercar. Its successor, first shown as the C Two and produced as the Nevera, took the idea much further. For the wider context of electric hypercars, see the Lotus Evija.

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