The £222,000 McLaren 720S Spider can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds. Photo: Beadyeye
Heavy EV batteries are killing the fun of driving British sports cars, McLaren chief executive says.
Michael Leiters said the Woking-based supercar maker is not yet ready to switch its cars to electric, arguing that drivers «can't enjoy [themselves] on the weekends» with heavy lithium batteries under the hood.
Mr. Leiters said current technology is not yet advanced enough to replicate the «emotional» experience of driving a gasoline or diesel engine with high engine. powerful sports car.
He said: “Today, battery technology is not yet mature. If you're into sports, if you're looking for some fun on the weekends, if you're heading to the race track, that's not the right technology yet.”
Mr Leiters suggested that putting batteries in today's supercars would make them heavier. too many and make them boring.
McLaren supercars, even with four-liter engines, weigh about 1.4 tons. Meanwhile, comparable electric vehicles will weigh 2.2 tons.
Mr Leiters said at the FT Future of the Car Summit: «It's not the DNA of a product, at least not our product.»
from 0 to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds.
' Delight Photo: Carlos Jasso/Bloomberg Finance LP.
Some high-performance EVs can rival or even surpass those figures: the £125,000 Tesla Model S Plaid can hit 100 mph in less than two seconds.
However, Mr Leiters said experience driving a supercar is about more than just speed.
“There is nothing rational about buying a supercar. It's absolutely emotional. And we have to convey this emotional experience.”
Mr. Leiters, who was appointed head of McLaren last year, is the latest executive to complain that current electric vehicle technology can't replicate the control, feel, noise and handling. a sports car with an internal combustion engine.
Ferrari chief Benedetto Vigna said last year that sound is one of the «essential» characteristics of his cars, and every engine should have a distinctive sound, including electric.
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The Italian brand has patented a technology to enhance quiet sound. the amount of noise produced by an electric motor that mimics the roar of a gasoline engine. Ferrari plans to launch its first all-electric sports car in 2025.
Dodge, an American car manufacturer, has developed its own device that recreates the noise of high-powered muscle cars for its Charger EV. volume up to 126 decibels.
Meanwhile, BMW hired Oscar-winning Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer to create an «emotionally rich audio experience» for its electric vehicles.
McLaren is working on an all-electric car, but Mr Leiters said it could be ten years from now when battery technology has matured and more power can be packed into a smaller and lighter package.
that when we release a supercar, it will be a real supercar for electric vehicles,” he said. said. “I'm not saying it's bad technology. I think it's a great technology, but we have to develop it for every purpose.”
McLaren has so far focused on so-called e-fuel. These synthetic fuels mimic gasoline, diesel and other fossil fuels because they are made from the same combination of hydrogen and carbon atoms.
However, they are not dug up, refined or burned, but made from water and air use electricity, which means they have less of an impact on the planet.
Increasing consumption of electric vehicles
The use of e-fuels can allow classic cars and other older models to stay on the road even after new combustion engines stop going out of production lines.
Ferrari and Porsche support the technology, and say British brands including Aston Martin are interested in it.
The EU has agreed to allow e-fuel vehicles to continue traffic on its roads even after the ban on petrol and diesel vehicles comes into force in 2035.
Mr Leiters said: new trend or new element in the discussion in the European Union about e-fuel.” .
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