Rimac Nevera Caught At The Nürburgring, Preparing For EV Lap Record Attempt?

The Rimac Nevera wearing a livery inspired by Mate Rimac’s BMW 3 Series E30 EV conversion is back. After setting 23 records at the Automotive Testing Papenburg (ATP), the electric hypercar visited the Nürburgring. But why? Deliveries to customers have started, so development should be over by now. Maybe the Croatian brand is testing a new version. However, our money is on test laps to get acquainted with the immensely challenging Green Hell.

Perhaps Rimac is doing the legwork to prepare for a future lap record attempt. To be crowned the Lord of the ‘Ring among EVs, the Nevera needs to be faster than the Porsche Taycan Turbo S. The speedy sedan from Zuffenhausen completed the course in 7 minutes and 33 seconds. Given the incredible performance of the silent hypercar, the Nevera shouldn’t have any issues dethroning the Tesla Model S Plaid rival.

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Technically, the Taycan Turbo S isn’t the fastest road-legal EV to go around the Nordschleife as the Nio EP9 did it in 6 minutes and 45 seconds back in May 2017. However, that one was only built in 16 units, so it doesn’t count as a true production car. The Rimac Nevera isn’t as exclusive as 150 vehicles are being made, at an eye-watering $2.4 million a pop.

Mind you, there’s an even faster electric car that has lapped the ‘Ring, with the Volkswagen ID.R taking just 6 minutes and 5 seconds to do the job in June 2019. The overall record belongs to Porsche and its 919 Hybrid Evo that lapped the Nürburgring in an incredible 5 minutes and 19 seconds in June 2018.

It will be interesting to see how the Nevera fares since heavy cars and lots of corners are not an ideal combination. It weighs 2,300 kilograms (5,070 pounds), but then again, it has quad motors making a combined 1,914 horsepower and 1,741 pound-feet (2,360 Newton-meters) of torque.

23 records have demonstrated nothing can beat it in a straight line, so now it needs to prove it can go fast around a corner, too. About 170 if we’re talking strictly about the Nürburgring.