The Italian-Japanese hypercar has shaken the electric car world by reaching a record speed of 438.73 km/h on a track in Germany. The thrilling run of the wild-looking Aspark Owl SP600 took place on the 1.8km straight at the northern German race circuit in Papenburg.
The Owl has dethroned the Rimac Nevera (412 km/h) from Croatia as the world’s fastest electric speed machine. That car had set the previous benchmark in the same spot in March of this year.
Most conversations about electric cars focus on maximizing range and battery efficiency, but engineers around the world have been working for years to get the vehicles to reach mind-boggling speeds.
Electric vehicles designed for everyday use, speed limiters that help save battery and brake energy, preventing rapid deflation and wear at high speeds. The weight of batteries is also a limiting factor.
Some electric hypercars are now putting petrol-powered performance cars to shame and almost all of them feature fighter jet-style acceleration, such as the Owl, which takes just 1.98 seconds to sprint from 0 to 100 km/h.
The third fastest electric is the Pininfarina Battista, which has a clock speed of 358 km/h and uses Rimac technology. Number four goes to the American brand Lucid for its Sapphire (330 km/h).
Tesla has more or less invented the electric performance car and its family sedan, the Model S Plaid, can reach a top speed of 200 mph (328 km/h), securing fifth place, provided road rules allow it. Germany is about the only country in the world where such speeds are permitted on certain public roads.
This 320 km/h fast Maserati Granturismo Folgore (the last word in the name means lightning in Italian) is in sixth place and is also the most powerful car in the manufacturer’s range. Not far behind is Porsche Taycan, which has a very respectable top speed of 305 km/h for seventh place.
Not quite in the same class, the Lotus Electre R (260 km/h) is in eighth place, while the Emrya R from the same stable with 258 km/h is hot on its tail as the world’s ninth fastest electric.
Tenth place goes to the Audi e-tron GT, which borrows heavily from Porsche to create a sleek and luxurious long-distance cruiser. In the highest range RS version it gives all other hyper-electric motors good performance for their money, but the top speed is factory-set at 250 km/h.
