Fresh off yet another appearance at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, Rimac Automobili is celebrating the Nevera’s recent run at the Nurburgring, where it broke the record for production EVs. But despite the all-electric automaker’s recent successes, it is still looking for ways to improve its performance, including by reducing weight.
During a celebration of the Nevera Time Attack special edition at The Quail, Motor1.com Senior Editor Jeff Perez spoke with Chief Technology Officer Emilio Scervo, who acknowledged that future EV supercars may shed some weight, particularly if Rimac wants to go racing.
“Thinking about a track version [of the Nevera], definitely what we should be working on is making it lighter,” Scervo said. “And some other tweaks to deliver stiffness, to make the car more connected to the driver.”
Scervo stopped short of acknowledging that Rimac was developing track-only sports cars like the recently revealed Maserati MCXtrema, but he recognized a few areas for the Nevera to improve if max-attack performance is the goal. Lighter-weight electrical components could help, as would a battery that better resists range degradation full-acceleration moments. Such a battery could theoretically be downsized to cut weight further.
As it is, the Nevera weighs 5,071 pounds, but despite its heft, it’s among the fastest vehicles we’ve ever driven. A quick test drive at last year’s Monterey Car Week put us behind the wheel of an early-production Nevera, which will hit 60 miles per hour in just 1.9 seconds. On that drive, we also found ourselves shocked with the Nevera’s excellent grip and obedient handling, allowing far faster cornering speeds than we initially thought possible.
Our experience echoes that of the car’s record-breaking appearance at the Nurburgring, where it completed a lap in 7 minutes, 5.298 seconds – 20 ticks faster than the previous title holder, a Tesla Model S Plaid with the Track package. And if Scervo’s comments prove to be accurate, there might be a bit more performance on the table.
