The electric 1407kW hypercar hit a top speed of 412km/h – a third of the speed of sound.
The Rimac Nevera has become the world’s fastest electric production car, achieving a record-breaking top speed figure to match its eye-watering quarter-mile run from 2021.
The Croatian hypercar, which was driven by Rimac’s chief test and development driver, Miro Zrnčević, hit a top speed of 412km/h.
Set into its highest-speed mode, which improves the balance between drag and downforce, the Nevera achieved the record at the Automotive Testing Papenburg track in Germany, making use of two 4km straights.
It’s the first time the Nevera has reached its 412km/h top speed, which was a target set by the Rimac team back when the car was initially revealed as the C_Two concept at the 2018 Geneva motor show.
Already deemed the world’s fastest-accelerating production car over a quarter mile (8.582sec), the Nevera is powered by four electric motors producing a staggering 1407kW. Rimac says it hits 0-100km/h in 1.95sec and 0-160km/h in 4.3sec.
A Nevera delivered to a customer comes with a top speed limited to 352km/h but can be adjusted to theoretically hit the 412km/h figure in controlled conditions at special, Rimac-supported events.
“To travel at 412kph, or 258mph, means travelling at a third of the speed of sound,” said Zrnčević. “Simply achieving that alone in a road car is incredibly complex, but in [the] Nevera we’ve created a car that can travel long distances on a single charge, can tackle tight and twisting race tracks and can drift as well as break straight-line speed records, both for acceleration and V-max.
“I’ve driven [the] Nevera since it first turned a wheel, and to see the perfectly honed car that is today is a really emotional moment. The most important thing I’ve learned during the top-speed attempt is how composed and stable the car was, confirming that our aerodynamics and vehicle dynamics teams have done an amazing job.”
While the Nevera is the world’s fastest electric production car, it’s still some distance away from the internal-combustion front-runner.
The 1000kW Koenigsegg Agera RS is officially the world’s fastest production car, with a top speed of 277.87mph (447.12km/h) clocked back in 2017. It exceeded the 267.856mph (431km/h) figure set by the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport in 2010.
However, there are some hypercars which have achieved even higher top speeds.
In 2019, the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ reached 304.773mph (490.48km/h), but this wasn’t officially considered, as its run was only recorded one-way.
And in 2020, the SSC Tuatara clocked 282.9mph (455.28km/h), but it wasn’t deemed the fastest as it wasn’t homologated for road use.
Jack Warrick