Politixia
Elon Musk has never shied away from controversy and is more than happy to create some, especially when it comes to a rival brand like Rimac. In direct competition with the long-awaited Tesla Roadster, the Rimac Nevera just set a whole slew of performance records, but it seems Musk is not all that impressed.
Given that, there is a Tesla Roadster SpaceX edition that is ready to take you to the moon and back, figuratively if not literally, the Rimac Nevera’s latest performance records might be too little, too late. Incidentally, it took its title of the world’s quickest-production EV back from the Pininfarina Battista. Scroll down for more on all these EV hypercars that are fast becoming more vaunted than the legends of the past. Here’s what the CEO of Tesla had to say when someone asked about the Roadster on Twitter after the Rimac broke multiple performance records.
Never one to shy away from creating a puddle that he’s only too happy to step in, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, Space X, Twitter, etc had a rather cryptic answer to a question posed to him by a Twitter user, Teslaconomics.
Teslaconomics asked Musk, on Twitter of course, if the Tesla Roadster would be able to beat the 1.74-second 0-to-60 mph record set by the Rimac Nevera.
Elon Musk replied with a short, cryptic, and in-your-face, “LOL”. Twitter exploded thereafter.
Hundreds of Twitter users followed up with comments, asking Musk to clarify what he meant by the “laughing out loud” acronym. Logically speaking, it translates to the possibility of the upcoming Tesla Roadster being way more capable than the Rimac Nevera, but Musk did not respond.
Frankly, there’s a good chance of the Tesla Roadster beating out the Rimac Nevera and one only has to look to the Model S Plaid and Model X Plaid as inspiration for that assumption. Despite being family-sized and retailing for under $110,000, these are unnecessarily fast cars. The Tesla Model S Plaid managed a 0-to-60 mph run of under 2.0 seconds and a quarter-mile in 9.23 seconds, limited to 155 mph. The 1.74-second run of the more than $2 million Rimac Nevera seems a little woebegone in comparison.
News is that the Tesla Roadster will now feature an advanced version of the tri-motor electric powertrain from the Plaid models, so the Nevera’s record does not seem such a tall claim to break. Right?
Rimac Nevera Becomes Fastest Production EV Car
As one of the most expensive hypercars today, the Rimac Nevera continues to break records, smashing some of its own in the process. Earlier this month, the Rimac Nevera smashed 23 records on the same day at the Automotive Testing Papenburg (ATP) facility in Germany, as it ran circles, figuratively, at the 2.49-mile straights. Onsite officials from Dewesoft and RaceLogic verified the records set or broken by the Nevera and admitted, the car ran faster than what it advertised. While the whopping $2.15 million starting price of the car is an enforced red flag for money, it goes to prove that money can assuage all needs for speed, if not happiness. Plus, the Rimac Nevera is hellbent on proving that today, performance equals electric cars. So Bugatti and Koenigsegg can please move aside, till they catch up on the EV gravy train.
Speaking of records, the Rimac Nevera blew through 0-to-60 mph in a very quick, blink-of-an-eye 1.74 seconds. Other than the staggering 0-to-60 mph run, the Rimac Nevera blew all minds doing 0-249-0 mph in a mind-blowing 29.94 seconds (the Koenigsegg Regera did the same in 31.49 seconds in 2019, in Sweden). That’s the time most people need to pull their cars out of a parking spot. Then again, the Rimac Nevera is not the ride for mere mortals, especially since it did all this record-smashing on the normal tarmac with no preparations for the test. By hitting 60 mph in 1.74 seconds, the Nevera broke its earlier record of 1.85 seconds, although the sprint happened from a one-foot rollout and not a standstill.
We are very impressed and ready to kowtow to Rimac’s superior powertrain, electric as it is. But do you know who’s not all that impressed? Elon Musk, that’s who!
How Fast Can Tesla Roadster Go?
During the Tesla Roadster’s 2017 unveiling (yes, it’s been a while), Tesla claimed the next-gen electric Roadster would be able to accelerate from 0-to-60 mph in 1.9 seconds. But this is old news and with the Roadster under development since then, who knows what the official figures would be now? Musk’s dream of combing Tesla and Space X also seems to be coming together, given that the Tesla Roadster SpaceX option will let this electric road rocket fly from 0-to-60 mph in an insane 1.1 seconds.
That said, as a Twitter user rightfully pointed out on Twitter, this is not a fair fight given that the Rimac Nevera does not have those “cold gas thrusters powered by over-wrapped pressure vessels” as the Tesla Roadster SpaceX package does.
On the flip side, solid news on the Tesla Roadster will come next year, when the model will “hopefully” launch as stated by Elon Musk at the 2023 Annual Shareholder Meeting on May 17. Said the Tesla honcho, “We expect to complete the engineering and design of the next-gen Tesla Roadster this year and hopefully – this is not a commitment – start production next year.” While noting that the Tesla Roadster was unlikely to make the company any major profit, Musk did assure everyone that “it will be sick.”
Rimac Nevera Reclaimed The Fastest Record From The Pininfarina Battista
Last November, the Rimac Nevera became the world’s fastest production electric car by running 0-to-60 mph in 1.85 seconds, and then 100 mph in 4.3 seconds. It also attained a top speed of 258 mph, all the more laudable because the Nevera runs on an advanced four-motor Rimac-developed powertrain and battery pack, jetting 1,914 horsepower.
In February 2023, the Rimac Nevera lost those records to the Pininfarina Battista which did the 0-to-60 mph run in 1.79 seconds. Ironically, the Pininfarina Battista runs on the Rimac powertrain, promising 1,900 horsepower and a little over 1,725 lb-ft of torque on tap.
Apart from the limited run Dodge Demon 170, to date, these two are the only two production cars in the world that broke the 9.0-second barrier when it comes to a quarter-mile run. All it took for the Pininfarina Battista the world’s quickest production car, at least for a quarter-mile run, was a difference of 0.03 seconds. In February, the Battista broke the previous 8.58-second quarter-mile record by the Rimac Nevera with a faster 8.55 seconds. Now, the Nevera has the last laugh as it broke the Battista’s record by racing down the quarter-mile in 8.27 seconds.
Clearly, the world of EVs is moving much faster than we can comprehend, and who knows when the Tesla Roadster comes zipping up the horizon, and manage to break the 1.0-second 0-to-60 mph barrier? There’s a reason why Elon Musk is laughing, and it may be too fast for us to digest.
Source: Rimac, Twitter, Tesla
