Aston Martin has partly revealed the company's first all-electric car. The Rapide E will be very limited production, with V12-beating horsepower and torque, plus 800-volt fast charging capability.
Aston has been working along with Williams Advanced Engineering to develop their first electric production vehicle. That's part of the same Williams that competes in Formula 1 and that developed the battery tech used by FIA Formula E electric racers.
The Rapide E, the electric version of the company's four-door Rapide sedan, will get an 800v battery system with a 65 kWh capacity. That means 5,600 lithium-ion cells packed where the 6.0L V12, gearbox, and fuel tank used to live.
Those batteries power a pair of electric motors on the rear axle that produce a combined 610 hp and 667 lb-ft of torque. That tops the V12 that used to live under the long bonnet which developed 552 hp and 465 lb-ft.
The target range for the car is "over 200 miles (320 km)" according to Aston Martin, and that's on the new (and more strict) WLTP test. The company also says that the car will be capable of adding 300 km of range in an hour of charging using a "typical 400v 50 kW charger," most often called Level 3 chargers now on most EV charger maps. More impressively, they say the car can charge at more than 500 km per hour on an 800v, 100 kW outlet. Though those are far from common at this point.
Aston Martin is still targeting the Rapide E as being a performance car. That means 0-100 km/h in under four seconds, and an 80-113 km/h passing time of 1.5 seconds. The company also wants to point out that the car can deliver this performance over "the majority of the battery state of charge." It will also do a full 28.3 km lap of the German Nurburgring race track with "absolutely no derating."
Underneath, the car will have a revised suspension with different springs and dampers, as well as a limited-slip rear differential that Aston says is designed to maintain the handling performance of the gas-only Rapide S.
One thing we still don't know is what it'll look like. While the shape will likely take much from the Rapide on which it is based, Aston is showing off just a fender. And a diagram of the powertrain layout.
The car will be a limited production model. Just 155 are set to be built, and the cars are expected to start delivery in the fourth quarter of next year.
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