Even wilder than the Atom! Ariel's first electric car is a nearly 1,200hp four-motor beast

There are very few manufacturers left who are exclusively dedicated to selling  passion cars . Caterham  is one of them and you don't have to leave the UK to find another example:  Ariel .

The English brand became one of the benchmarks in the sector with the launch of the first  Ariel Atom  in 2000, a car that has continued to evolve almost every year. But now the time has come for Ariel to write another chapter in her story and she's doing it in electric key with the  Ariel Hypercar.

Is it possible to be wilder than the Ariel Atom V8?

After the Atom  and its campero sibling,  the Nomad , comes the brand's third model: the Ariel Hipercar  (High Performance Carbon Reduction, not to be confused with the Hypercar). Unlike the other two, its interior is completely protected and its design could pass for that of Batman's car, but there is something else that sets it even more apart from its brothers.

And it is that we are in front of the  first fully electric Ariel . We had been warned for over five years , when Ariel announced that he was working on a two-seater electric hypercar with around 1,200 hp. Well, this model has arrived and her last name is a statement of intent.

With the Hipercar, Ariel intends to play in a higher league than the Atom, even though  the Ariel Atom V8 beat the game  with its 500 hp and 550 kg of weight more than a decade ago. Without a doubt, the bar is very high, but you  only have to take a look at its technical sheet  to fall in love with Ariel again.

The Ariel Hipercar has four electric motors, one for each wheel, which  develop a power of 880 kW (1,197 hp)  and a maximum torque of 1,800 Nm.  It is 4.30 meters long, weighs 1,546 kg, accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.09 seconds and reaches a top speed of 250 km/h, of course, limited.

Electric power is supplied by 800-volt lithium-ion batteries with a  capacity of 62 kWh  manufactured by Cosworth. They are water-cooled and allow the Ariel Hipercar to travel 241 km on a single charge in the WLTP cycle.

But that's not all. This beast can optionally mount a  range extender in the form of a turbine  to recharge the battery on the go. Cosworth was also responsible for the development of this system.

It's called CatGen (catalytic generator) and Cosworth claims it's capable of delivering an additional 35kW of power. It weighs 50 kg and can work with different types of fuels (also with hydrogen); In addition, it promises to release a  very low emissions balance  (zero if it is with green hydrogen).

The Cosworth CatGen which will be able to extend the autonomy of the Ariel Hipercar  is still in development  , but this system should be ready for mass production from 2023.

It would therefore arrive in time for the commercial launch of the British supercar, which will launch late next year or  early 2024  . At the moment it is a prototype, but the production car will be almost identical. The price will be announced later.

Another option that Ariel will offer customers when choosing the Hipercar is  to forego all-wheel drive  in favor of rear-wheel drive. This rear-wheel drive model is content with 440 kW of power (590 hp), 900 Nm of torque and a weight of less than 1,400 kg.

Unlike the Atom, which uses a tubular chassis, the Hipercar has an  aluminum monocoque chassis  with two subframes of the same material, while the body is made of carbon fiber.

Of course, Ariel's goal is always the same:  to achieve the lowest possible weight  and  best possible ride feel . And it is that, that this two-seater is electric is not incompatible with the philosophy of Ariel. Or at least that's what the brand thinks.

Of course,  the numbers promise . Another question is whether the customer looking for a car as special as an Atom is ready to go 100% electric and give up the sensations of a gasoline-powered Atom.

It is clear that Ariel  does not take this step for efficiency reasons , after all, no Ariel covers many kilometers per year and consumption will be the last thing that will matter to its owners when enjoying a day track on   the circuit.

If the Hipercar is electric, it's because Ariel believes electrification can provide the  same levels of driving satisfaction  with even better performance (it's almost as fast as a  Rimac Nevera with nearly 2,000 HP  ) . .

Ariel director,  Simon Saunders  , said: "We still have a lot of testing, tweaking and detail work to do over the next year or two before production, but what we're showing today is basically what we intend to produce."

Additionally, Saunders emphasizes  the Ariel's British DNA  : "Developing another of the fastest and most technically advanced cars in the world is important to us, but using the technology that has been developed in this country and building a UK vehicle supply chain Electricity is vital to the UK economy  The Hipercar is not just a milestone in vehicle design, it is a demonstration of what we can do by as an industry in our country.