British sports car maker Ariel reveals 880kW electric supercar

Best known for its lightweight, back-to-basics open-top sports cars, Ariel has taken a new direction with an electric hypercar – powered by four electric motors and a jet-engine range extender.

Unconventional British super car brand Ariel – known for its stripped-down lightweight specials – has unveiled its first hypercar.

And, true to form, it has a new take on the hypercar formula – starting with the name of its latest model.

The Ariel Hipercar – yes, ‘Hipercar’ is how the company spells it – is an 880kW electric supercar from one of the UK’s best-known niche sports-car makers.

Unveiled this week, the Ariel Hipercar represents a significant departure from the company’s icon Atom and Nomad open-top sports-cars, but not just because it has a roof.

Due to enter production in 2024, the Ariel Hipercar – standing for High Performance Carbon Reduction – utilises carbon-fibre bodywork to cover its bonded aluminium chassis and aluminium subframes, bringing its claimed weight down to 1500kg.

While the Ariel Hipercar is more than twice as heavy as the circa-600kg Ariel Atom, its claimed weight makes it roughly 150kg lighter than a Porsche 911 Turbo – but with more than double the power and torque.

Unlike the petrol-powered Atom and Nomad, the Ariel Hipercar is powered by four 220kW/450Nm electric motors – one for each wheel – providing combined outputs of 880kW/1800Nm.

Ariel claims the all-wheel-drive Hipercar can accelerate from zero to 60mph (98km/h) in 2.09 seconds – a fraction faster than the Rimac Nevera’s record-setting time of 2.1 seconds to 100km/h – before pushing on to a claimed top speed of 250km/h.

The British company also offers a rear-wheel-drive variant of the Ariel Hypercar, with a claimed output of 440kW and 900Nm, and a reduced kerb weight of approximately 1400kg.

The Ariel Hipercar is powered by an 800-volt, 62kWh battery developed by UK motorsport firm Cosworth, providing up to 241km of driving range.

However, customers can opt to have their Ariel Hipercar equipped with a jet turbine range extender – allowing the battery to be recharged on the move, although the unit doesn’t drive the wheels.

Under the skin, Bilstein adaptive dampers help to keep the Michelin Cup 2 tyres in contact with the road, while AP Racing brakes (six-pot front calipers, four-pot rear) help to arrest the 1.5-tonne electric supercar’s rapid speeds.

Ariel is yet to set a price for the Hipercar, although the company has stated it will cost less than £1 million ($AU1.7 million) before on-road costs.

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