mclaren p1 gtr 203 4
Sam Charlwood3 Sept 2019
NEWS

McLaren still searching for electric hypercar lightness

British brand’s take on the hypercar will adhere to the same principles as its internal combustion set

McLaren says it will happily be last in line to deliver a battery-powered supercar to the world if it means getting the formula right the first time.

The British supercar manufacturer, whose first electrified model was the limited-edition McLaren P1 plug-in hybrid hypercar in 2013 (pictured), wants hybrid models to account for 50 per cent of its sales by 2022 and says all-electric vehicles could one day be all it sells.

But although it has committed to building an electric hypercar, it remains tight-lipped about its future EV plans – other than to say any McLaren EV will adhere to its traditional principles, including light weight.

“What we’ve previously said is that we’re working on an EV prototype in our ultimate series to understand how the characteristics and subjective feel corresponds to an EV,” Jamie Corstorphine, McLaren’s global marketing director, recently told carsales.com.au.

“It’s always our approach that it’s better to build something and drive it and understand it.”

But the jury remains out on how McLaren can manage challenges around weight with its take on the superlative EV hypercar.

Both the forthcoming Porsche Taycan and Lotus Evija will tip the scales at about two tonnes -- a weight that flies in the face of McLaren’s focus on ‘lightness’.

So, rather than rushing to market with a compromised offering, Corstorphine said McLaren would wait as long as it needed to before releasing its answer to the EV hypercar.

“Absolutely, lightness is one of the core attributes at McLaren. We will maintain that philosophy to make cars as light as possible in the future,” he said.

“It’s all about delivering the best driving experience. McLaren is about providing a rewarding driving experience. That’s why we’re developing our prototype in terms of getting the best driving satisfaction driving an EV.”

McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt told Automotive News in August 2018 he adamant that an electric McLaren would still be a no-compromise high-performance sports car, but that battery technology would not be ready until 2025.

“As it stands at the moment, we don't think the battery technology will be ready until 2025 to give us what we want in terms of performance,” he said.

“A McLaren EV has got to be usable. It shouldn't be that we offer a powertrain solution that compromises. It won't just be lower emissions, it'll be a better sports car.

“We've set ourselves half an hour full-on track use. You need to be able to do that without recharge, and when you come in and recharge it needs to recharge in 30 minutes.”

The company’s then engineering design director Dan Parry-Williams concurs, telling Autocar in December 2017: “We’ve got a pure EV mule and part of the reason for that is to ask how we can deliver driver engagement in a fully electric world.

“But there’s still quite a journey from here to there in terms of our products. The biggest issue is still battery technology.

“Let’s say you want to drive on track for half an hour. If that was an EV, that car would have over 500 miles of EV range, and it would be flat as a pancake at the end. The energy required to do really high performance on track is staggering. And then you have to recharge it.”

Given that long-range, light-weight batteries are not an overnight solution, it means McLaren’s ground-breaking EV might be a few years off yet.

“For us, with our volumes and our experience for customers, it’s about delivering the right product,” said Corstorphine.

“We’re not developing and releasing product in relation to what competitors are doing. It’s not defined by their timelines. It’s about what’s right for our brand.”

Share this article
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Stay up to dateBecome a carsales member and get the latest news, reviews and advice straight to your inbox.
Download the carsales app
    AppStoreDownloadGooglePlayDownload
    App Store and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.
    © CAR Group Ltd 1999-2024
    In the spirit of reconciliation we acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.