Aston Martin has revealed that it has plans to launch an all-electric variant of Rapide, which is a four-door saloon. The car is expected to have a maximum power output of 1000 horsepower and will come with a four-wheel drive system. The estimated range of the car could be 320 kilometres. The first all-electric model of Aston Martin is expected to hit the markets in two years. It will draw inspiration from the DBX concept, which was displayed recently.
Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer, “We green-lighted a technical study for Rapide EV—a pure EV with no range extender. From the compliance perspective, if we as a sports car company want to continue to make V-12s—I’d hate to be the guy that killed the Aston V-12—then we can make the make the V-12 itself meet the emissions requirement, but you can’t expect your fleet average be very good. So if you’re going to make your fleet average really good you have to have a low- or zero-emissions car.”
Palmer has also claimed that the weight difference between the diesel and petrol models will not be huge. The batteries will be placed under the bonnet along the floor of the car. This feature is also utilised by Tesla Model S and lowers the centre of gravity dramatically, which improves handling. The inverter will be placed in the boot with two motors, each for an axle. These will produce 1000 bhp, much higher than the petrol variant of Rapide.
The project would see a collaboration of Aston Martin with an undisclosed partner, which is believed to come from North America. However, there are almost no chances that Tesla will come forward. Aston Martin has been pretty upbeat about the same and also put to test a hybrid Hydrogen-powered variant at Nurburgring, almost two years ago.
The four-door model of Aston Martin resembles the DB9 closely. This model was launched in 2009, coming from a concept variant from 2006. The model was initially under contract and produced by Magna Steyr in Austria. After it moved back to home in 2012, a revised model came up the following year with a bolstered 6-litre V12 mill, which produces 550 hp, rising from 470 hp. The gearbox was changed from six-speed to eight-speed.
