► 0-62mph in under 2.0sec claim = PROVEN
► Very carbonfibre, much wow
► Aiming to be fastest EV in the world
At the Frankfurt motor show last year, Aspark arrived with a brand new all-electric hypercar. Named the Owl, the new hypercar promised incredible power, but like a lot of electric cars we’ve seen, Aspark had very little evidence to back it up. That is until, now.
In a video released yesterday, Aspark demonstrated the Owl’s incredible speed, and it looks like it could be a match for the Tesla Roadster. A video posted on YouTube shows the Japanese car hitting 0-100km/h in just 1.921 seconds, putting it very much in the neighbourhood of the of the upcoming Tesla Roadster – and perhaps a little faster according to Autoblog.
The most interesting thing about the video? The terrible area Aspark decided to conduct its publicity inducing test. Firstly, it appears the Owl takes off from a parking space, and the whole thing look as though it’s been done on a industrial estate – or perhaps a shopping complex car park. Either way, it proves the Owl will be very fast.
Aspark Owl: everything we know
Built from carbonfibre and powered by an all-electric drivetrain producing the equivalent of 1000bhp, its Japanese makers reckons the Owl will good for 0-62mph in under 2.0sec.
The car has been in development since 2014, but Frankfurt represents its world debut – which is impressive in its own way, given what’s clearly a limited development budget and the fact that it orginates in Japan.
Inevitably, it’s made largely from carbonfibre, with wonder-weave panels over a spaceframe chassis, plus super-light magnesium alloy wheels helping to get the acceleration ball rolling.
Four-wheel drive is surely on the cards, as there’s no other way it could possibly gain enough traction with the torque from an electric drive system to achieve such outrageous sprint times.
It also stands just 39 inches tall – one less than the famously short-statured Ford GT40…
How realistic is the Aspark Owl really?
Well, it’s possibly to make any car accelerate quickly given the appropriate gearing – and a 1000bhp electric drive is hardly likely to be slow in any case.
That amount of electric power is certainly feasible. Though whether it will be feasible alongside any kind of meaningful driving range remains to be seen.
One of our colleagues described the dramatic, if slightly generic, styling as like a ‘Poundland Aston Martin Valkyrie‘. Which seems a bit harsh, even if in the carbon the Aspark does look strangely unfinished.
We can confirm it does not appear to be able to turn its head all the way round.
Expect it to be a track-only plaything… if it happens.