Sveta Nedelja, October 12th, 2012. -- Rimac Automobili is proudly announcing that the Rimac e-M3 has broken several world acceleration records. The records are broken in Category A, Group VIII (electric vehicle), Class 3 (above 1000 kg) according to FIA categorization.
The e-M3 was Rimac Automobili's first test mule - the car that started all. The founder and CEO Mate Rimac started to convert this car when he was only 19 years old: "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. After one year or so 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 gather 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. At that time, I already had a very clear vision of my ultimate goal. Today, hard work is making my dream come true."
Now the "green monster" develops 600 horsepower, 900 Nm of torque, reaches 100 km/h from standstill in 3.3 sec and a top speed of 280 km/h. Five development evolutions have pushed the e-M3 to become the officially fastest accelerating electric vehicle according to strict FIA rules.
The record braking attempt took place on a 2 km long military runway near Zagreb on April the 17th, 2011. Nonetheless, the records couldn't be published until now. Mr. Rimac explains: "We had to wait over a year for FIA's official approval to publish the records. But while we were waiting the spirit of inventiveness took us even further, so we made something even faster. Our pre-production car, the Concept_One, can beat the e-M3; by far."
Such a prolific output is surprising from a company that young, with little previous automotive experience. But still, Rimac Automobili has brought a sparkle in the world of e-mobility and is now breaking prejudice about boring and slow electric vehicles. As a company riddled with innovation at the cutting-edge of electric vehicle technology, Rimac Automobili will bring to all who remain dubious one more surprise -- before the end of this year, Rimac Automobili will deliver its first ground-braking vehicle to a customer.
Records:
- 1/8 mile: 7,549
- 1/4 mile: 11,808
- 1/2 km: 13,714*
- 1 km: 23,260*
- 1 mile: 35,347*
*Records subject to official FIA approval (pending)
