Aston Martin Rapide EV Coming With 800 HP

Aston Martin is working on an EV, but this won’t be a typical commuter car.

Aston CEO Andy Palmer confirmed to Automotive News that an all-electric version of the four-door Rapide will be arriving in about two years sporting an 800 hp powertrain.

The car will also use all-wheel drive and a have range of 200 miles according to Palmer.

Aston needs to begin building low-emissions cars to be able to pass stringent regulations in the U.S. and especially in China. “If you want to keep making V-12 engines, then you’ve got to do something at the opposite end of the spectrum,” said Palmer.

An all-electric Rapide will fetch between $200,000 and $250,000 according to Palmer, another reason why Aston thinks that high-performance EVs are a good fit for the brand.

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But the British supercar maker will not lean on gimmicks to sell cars. Buyers in this class want “something beyond a pure technology play, they start now looking for legacy,” said Palmer. “We don’t do Ludicrous because Ludicrous speed is stupid,” Palmer said, referencing Tesla’s new “Ludicrous Mode” which allows the Model S sedan to sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds.

“I think that the fact that you could drive a few laps of a decent race course or race it around the Nordschleife [famed track in Germany] is much more interesting than doing 500 meters in Ludicrous mode.”

The batteries and internal components of the Rapide EV will not be shared with Mercedes-Benz and will likely come from LG or Samsung.

Once the Rapide launches, Aston will turn its attention to the DBX crossover. A plug-in hybrid model is expected to be introduced in 2019 followed by a gas-powered model and finally the all-electric version.

[Source: Automotive News]

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