Rimac Nevera smashes 0-400-0kph record

Along with stealing the 0-400-0kph record from Koenigsegg, the Nevera claims 22 additional records...

By John Howell / Wednesday, 17 May 2023 / Loading comments

‘Today, I am proud to say that the car we’ve created can get to 400 km/h and back to 0 in less time than it took the McLaren F1 to accelerate up to 350 km/h’.

Those are the words of Rimac's founder and CEO, Mate Rimac, and whatever you think about the meaningfulness of chasing straight-line performance, that’s still a helluva statement to read. It comes in conjunction with news that the Rimac Nevera has smashed the 0-400-0km/h record, along with 22 other speed records in the process.

The testing was carried out at the Automotive Testing Papenburg (ATP) facility in Germany, with the results verified by both Dewesoft and RaceLogic. Rimac points out that the tests involved the standard one-foot rollout, and the Nevera was fitted with road-legal Michelin Cup 2Rs for the runs. Moreover, there was no prepping to improve the grip of the asphalt along the 2.49-mile straight. The times are indeed startling.

The Nevera’s headline 0-400-0kph time (400kph is 249mph) was 29.93 seconds. That’s a second quicker than the previous record holder, the Koenigsegg Regera, which set a time of 31.49 seconds in 2019. A Bugatti Chiron, for context, managed 32.6 seconds to do an equivalent run. The Nevera also posted a 0-60mph time of 1.74 seconds, 0-100mph in 3.21 seconds, and 0-200mph in 10.86 seconds. It also ran the quarter-mile in 8.25 seconds.

The Nevera’s battery, powertrain and software are developed in-house by the Rimac Group. The car features a derivative of its AXL_1800 e-axle at the rear. This unit has a one-mega-watt dual inverter that’s able to deliver 630hp and 664lb ft…per motor. And there are two of those on the rear axle, which means a combined 1,260hp and 1,328lb ft. That's all from a unit that weighs 189.5kg. The front axle also has twin motors, although this is a bespoke unit producing slightly lower outputs. Even so, the combined output is a mind-boggling – I should imagine literally as well as metaphorically – 1,914hp and 1741lb ft .

Operating all of those motors is Rimac All-Wheel Torque Vectoring 2. This uses Rimac software and control units alongside a NVIDIA Pegasus-based supercomputer. Calculations come thick and fast as to which of the four wheels the power and torque are going to: the system can compute and action commands up to 100 times a second.

Just 150 Neveras will be produced at the factory on the outskirts of Zagreb. Rimac said, “What I’m most proud of though, is that this isn’t a car purely designed for straight-line performance. The Nevera can go from breaking records to driving over 300 miles on a charge, refilling from 0-80% in less than 20 minutes and keeping the most demanding drivers in the world engaged. [The Nevera is] not just faster than traditional competitors, but, surprising for a fully electric car, engaging and capable too’.