Rimac’s all-electric Concept_One supercar beats Bugatti Veyron in a drag race

The Bugatti Veyron is often considered the ‘best supercar ever made‘ by petrol-heads and it even won ‘Car of the Decade’ by Top Gear, which is why it’s interesting to put it against an all-electric supercar.

Rimac took the challenge with its Concept_One and won a drag race against a Veyron.

William Pembroke of Wilton Classic Supercar brought a rare Veyron (only ~500 of them have been produced) to Rimac’s headquarters in Croatia and both companies have been teasing and releasing a series of videos showcasing the two vehicles.

The even rarer Concept_One, which could be seen as the Veyron’s all-electric counterpart due to its status as the “best all-electric supercar”, has been put against the Veyron in a ‘Croatia Coast Road Duel‘ with beautiful scenery and on the track with some drift action in another video.

It all led to a drag race between the two supercars that Wilton Classic Supercar posted to their Youtube channel yesterday:

They described their expectations for the race:

Just after dawn on a chilly Croatia morning, we decided to find out. In truth, having already sampled the Concept_One’s astonishing launch capability – thanks to a torque vectoring system that dials in maximum traction to each wheel, and electric motors that deliver maximum torque the instant current is applied – we expected the Veyron to be well beaten off the line. But we also knew the Veyron comes on strong with a huge whack of acceleration once the turbos get into their stride, and as speed increased it would haul the Concept_One in.

That’s indeed what happened, but it was too late to catch up to the Concept_One at that point.

Both camps acknowledged that the minus 5 temperatures didn’t agree with the traction control of both vehicles and that they should try again this summer. We would watch that. Bring it on.

While consumers are patiently (or impatiently) waiting for more affordable electric vehicles to hit the market, it’s interesting how quickly electrification is hitting the supercar segment. Hybrid powertrains are already the norm in the top supercars, like the Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1, or the Porsche 918 Spyder, but now all-electric supercars, like the Concept_One, but also the new NextEV NIO EP9, are also making their way into the segment.

Rimac’s work with all-electric supercars should also affect the broader market as the company is working on projects for other automakers.