A POPULAR supercar brand has revealed it could potentially switch to a radical new technology which generates electricity using liquid fuels.
Rimac’s newest supercar won’t be powered by just batteries and could rely on alternative fuels like diesel.
Production of their newest Nevera EV is already underway with founder and boss Mate Rimac hinting at what the next steps could be.
“Rimac isn’t exclusively electric – it’s doing whatever is most exciting at the time,” he told Autocar.
He revealed the manufacturer is “working on” a programme that will test if “so-called nanotubes can be an effective source of energy for a vehicle”.
The aim is to generate electricity through superheating “chemically different liquid fuels”.
The electricity generated would then be used to power an electric motor – which in theory would replace “the battery in an electric drivetrain“.
Autocar said: “Mate Rimac cited liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen and diesel as examples of fuels that could be used to power this arrangement.”
Rimac identified this potential by experimenting with the tech on a smaller scale.
Test results suggested that “nanotubes could operate at 80 per cent efficiency when the average for an internal combustion engine is 30 per cent”, according to Mate Rimac.
Rimac’s new method still released CO2 emissions but they say it is “far less than is emitted by any conventional internal combustion engine (ICE)”.
Mate believes that his new technology could be game-changing for the car industry as a whole “but especially sports cars”.
He claims that there are “substantial weight savings and packaging advantages to be gained by removing the battery from an electric drivetrain”.
Currently, a Rimac Nevera will set you back a whopping £1.7million and is an elite family of all-electric supercars.
The Nevera recently gained notoriety after it broke the Guinness World Record for achieving the fastest speed while driving in reverse.
Based in Croatia the Rimac Nevera is known for its speed reaching 258mph last year.
It also went from 0-60 in 1.74 seconds which was equally astonishing, “beating out every other production EV on sale”.
It comes after Rima Nevera drivers were offered free power charging for eight years.
