The new Pininfarina Battista all-electric supercar has thrown down the gauntlet to battery-powered rivals with a new set of acceleration figures.
Powered by four electric motors linked to a large 120kWh battery, the Battista makes enormous 1417kW and 2340Nm power figures - that’s almost five times the power of conventionally fast cars such as the 285kW Toyota Supra coupe.
Designed and built in Italy, Automobili Pininfarina claims its car has “Formula One car-beating acceleration”. That’s a bold claim, but one the manufacturer appears to back up.
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New testing in India shows the Battista can demolish the quarter mile (400 metre) benchmark used in drag racing in just 8.55 seconds, having reeled off a 100km/h sprint in 1.86 seconds.
For context, a Formula One cars need fractionally more than 9 seconds to reach 400 metres.
For even more context, the all-wheel-drive version of BMW’s M3 needs 3.9 seconds to reach 100km/h, and 11.2 seconds to break the quarter mile.
Stepping up to supercars, Ferrari’s latest 296 GTB hybrid has 610kW of power that helps it reach 200km/h in 7.6 seconds. The Battista needs just 4.75 seconds to reach the same speed.
The latest demo runs took place in India at the Natrax vehicle test facility at the behest of a key shareholder, Mahindra.
Independent journalists set speed records of 358.03km/h and 357.10km/h to become the fastest man and woman to drive on Indian soil.
Automobili Pininfarina chief executive Paolo Dellachà said “these speed records – and independent tests – have validated our ambition to create a new generation of hyper and luxury car leading with Battista, whereby electric power delivers performance that is simply unachievable in the world of ICE powertrains”.
Other manufacturers including Tesla, Rimac and Lotus are working on high-powered electric supercars.
A small number of the Batistas have been sold to Australian customers ready to pay €1.98 million (NZ$3.4 million), but we haven't heard of any New Zealand sales. Yet.
