The 1180bhp Electric Ariel Hipercar Takes Another Step Towards Production

I’ve lost count of the number of times that a supercar gets compared to one of the many incarnations of a batmobile. It’s possibly a case of chicken or the egg; do manufacturers set out to make a car look this way or is it simply that it’s a practical and pleasing design ethos? Without answering that question, here we have another batmobile-finned black beauty, this time it’s the Ariel Hipercar – a supercar that we first got some teasing hints of about 3 years ago.

After quite some time of not hearing any updates about the Hipercar, yesterday social media was greeted with Ariel Motor Company Ltd posting new images of the angular looking automobile. It’s still a work in progress, Ariel says, but the company is getting closer to the finished article. It’s nice to know the project is still firmly on the rails.

The car itself looks like a cross between that aforementioned fantasy car and a stealth jet. It features 5 very prominent aero fins, and everything is seemingly angled forwards towards the very front point of the impressive looking electric Hipercar. Those fins sit at each corner of the car with one very large fin centrally jutting out of the rear of the roof emphasising that unavoidably angular look. It’s interesting to hear that Ariel scrapped several ideas to go with a more conventional look in favour of something more daring.

It’s worth noting that the Hipercar will be available in either 2WD or 4WD configurations, and each choice will give differing performance levels. Under the bonnet, the Ariel Hipercar gets 295bhp for each wheel giving a total of 1,180bhp for the 4-wheel drive version – the 2-wheel drive version’s power is a more modest 590bhp with torque set at 662lb ft (1,342lb ft for the 4WD). This is achieved via 4 electric motors (2 for 2WD) powered by a 62kWh battery which sits more centrally under the floor.

The Hipercar has a top speed of 155mph and will get you from 0-62mph in around 2 seconds and 0-100mph in just over 4 seconds. Four drive modes will be available – Eco, Sport, Serious – and for the drifters among you, a mode simply and enigmatically called Fun. The supercar’s given range is around 150 miles, though there is the option of including a 47bhp petrol gas turbine ‘range extender’, which can be seen jet engine-style at the rear under the central fin. 8 separate sophisticated cooling systems are incorporated to keep all that technology cool, which also partly dictates some of the body design with cooling intakes all over the place.

The multi-faceted panels are 3D printed, which will make final production manufacturing simpler, and while the current test vehicle is of course a prototype, the final product will feature high-quality carbon-fibre body panels. Inside, it’s hard to judge how the production version of the Hipercar will appear as yet, but we do know it is likely to have leather seats – at least as an option – as this prototype includes them. Ariel say that the Hipercar will have a less sparse, and more inviting interior as things progress towards a release date.

That release date though might still be a year or so away from full production, and as it stands in the present climate, the price we are looking at will sit at somewhere under a million pounds.

Enjoy reading about the Arial electric hypercar? Checkout the Smart Motoring review on Praga Bohema.