Aston Martin’s first electric car is finally production ready, with the car maker taking the wraps off at Auto Shanghai on 16 April. Chief amongst its interesting accolades includes an 800 volt, 65kWh battery that can accept rapid charging using up to 100kW and beyond chargers.
Range is expected to be around 200 miles. The battery pack uses more than 5,600 18650-type cells (the same type as Tesla uses in the Model S, 3 and X) and is housed where the V12 engine and gearbox once sat. Developed with Williams Advanced Engineering – the company responsible for the original Formula E battery – the Rapide E features twin rear-mounted motors producing 61 bhp and 950Nm of torque. Top speed for Rapide E is 155mph, with a sub-4.0 second 0-60mph time and a 50-70mph time of just 1.5 seconds. Unfortunately, production will be limited to just 155 examples.
