The Aston Martin Rapide E electric car has reportedly been canceled.

Posted on January 12, 2020
Luxury
The Aston Martin Rapide E electric car has reportedly been canceled.

It almost happened, but it may not happen at all.

Autocar reported Friday that the plug has been pulled on the all-electric Aston Martin Rapide E Sport sedan.

Aston Martin spokesman Nathan Hoyt told Motor Authority that the company would not confirm the end of the program and that the automaker would not comment on speculation about future products.

Autocar reported that the car will now be a research project to advance Aston Martin's electrification program.

The Aston Martin Rapide E was revealed in production trim at the 2019 Shanghai Auto Show in April. A month later, it made its dynamic debut at the 2019 Formula E Monaco ePrix. There, the all-electric sports sedan turned two laps at speed, as if to prove that its development was nearly complete.

Aston Martin planned to build only 155 Rapide E sedans, with only a few slots left as of May 2019. Production was supposed to begin at the end of 2019 at the automaker's new plant in Saint-Atance, Whale. However, that did not happen.

The site was to become the British automaker's new electrification center and home to the now all-electric Lagonda brand, which was later revived. It is unclear what will become of the remnants of the all-electric Lagonda revival project or of those who ordered the Rapide E.

The all-electric Rapide E was to replace the Rapide's V12 engine, transmission, and fuel tank with a much smaller 65 kwh battery pack with over 5,600 18650 format cylindrical lithium-ion cells. The cells were to be arranged in a carbon fiber and Kevlar battery pack.

This would all be powered by an 800-volt electrical system, allowing for fast charging, which most current electric vehicles, with the exception of the Porsche Taycan, cannot handle. According to Aston Martin, the car can be charged to 80% in just 15 minutes, giving it a range of about 200 miles. It is worth noting that other cars with battery packs of about 95 kwh have a range of only about 200 miles, so this 200-mile figure seems overly optimistic.

The two electric motors, producing a total of 601 hp and 700 lb-ft of torque, were set to power the rear wheels via a limited slip differential; the 0-60 mph sprint is 4.0 seconds and the top speed is 155 mph. Aston Martin also claimed that the car would accelerate from 50 mph to 70 mph in just 1.5 seconds.

The powertrain was developed with Williams Advanced Engineering, derived from the Williams Formula 1 team.

The Rapide E was not the future of Aston Martin, but it set the stage for the future. The Rapide line was to be discontinued after 155 cars were produced. Today, it appears not to exist at all.

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