At the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, McLaren unveiled its Track22 business plan, announcing that at least 50 percent of its sports cars would feature hybrid drivetrains by 2022. What the British brand didn't mention at the Swiss car show is that it is also working on an all-electric vehicle. The news comes from Auto Express, which claims, quoting a company insider, that McLaren is preparing an electric sports car that will sit in the range-topping Ultimate Series that includes only the P1 as of 2016.
The EV will sit below the limited-edition hypercar and will reportedly cost less than the P1. With the latter priced from £866,000 (around $1.25 million as of June 2016), the electric car will fetch significantly less than £1 million (about $1.44 million) before options, but the actual figure is still a mystery. The source also confirmed that the EV won't replace the P1, with a proper successor to be launched sometime in 2023 with a next-generation hybrid drivetrain.
As far as performance goes, McLaren reportedly aims to make the electric supercar "as exciting as a 675LT." While that might not seem like much for an Ultimate Series car, but it's pretty impressive for an all-electric vehicle. As a brief reminder, the 675LT needs only 2.9 seconds to hit 62 mph and just 7.9 ticks to reach 124 mph. Top speed is likely to exceed 200 mph, which would be a first for road-going, production electric cars. Also, the EV will be track-capable.
“No one buys a McLaren because they need one. We know that,” our insider told us. “So we need to make an EV that’s as exciting as a 675LT. An electric McLaren would need to manage 30 minutes on track with a 30-minute break before heading back out again," said the unnamed insider.
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Why it matters
The fact that McLaren is working on an all-electric vehicle isn't exactly news. With the Brits planning to drop electric engines in more than half of its gasoline-powered sports cars by 2022, a production EV was the next logical step. Sure, building an EV from scratch raises numerous issues, even for a company like McLaren, but it's important to note that Woking already has some experience with all-electric drivetrains, having developed the motor used in Formula E last season. McLaren will also have to cope with the extra weight that comes with the batteries needed to power and EV, but the Brits have developed numerous innovative technologies in the past and this Ultimate Series vehicle will probably introduce more groundbreaking tech. In the meantime, all we can do is wait for more information to surface the Interwebz. Make sure you stick around for updates.
McLaren P1
Read our full review on the McLaren P1 here.