Some are manufacturing vehicles, others are track-only—however all of them are silent velocity demons.
Mar 14, 2024 at 2:00pm ET
Porsche’s new Taycan Turbo GT simply broke a file to grow to be the quickest manufacturing four-door to lap the famed Nurburgring Nordschleife—and the second-fastest manufacturing EV. Porsche achieved that feat in 7:07.55, making it faster across the Inexperienced Hell than a overwhelming majority of vehicles on sale immediately, gasoline or electrical.
Nevertheless it’s not the reigning EV champion. One manufacturing automobile and some electrical race vehicles and ideas have performed it quicker. Since 2010, automakers have been taking their efficiency EVs to the monitor in hopes of capturing a lap file. And as extra efficiency EVs enter the market, count on extra record-breaking laps within the months and years to return.
Within the meantime, we have put collectively a listing of the 15 quickest electrical automobiles to ever do it. These vehicles all have a spot within the Nurburgring file books for his or her quick laps, and a few of them will not see their data damaged anytime quickly.
Volkswagen ID.R Idea
6:05.3
Earlier than the ID.4, the ID.Buzz, and the remainder of Volkswagen’s electrical car lineup, the mad scientists in Wolfsburg cooked an EV idea the world had by no means seen. The ID.R was a no-holds-barred, battery-powered race automobile with 671 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque thanks to 2 electrical motors—oh, and it solely weighed 2,500 kilos.
In 2019, VW unleashed the ID.R on the Nurburgring Nordschleife with French racing driver Romain Dumas behind the wheel. The epic run resulted in a record-breaking lap time of 6:05.336, making it the quickest EV—and one of many quickest vehicles ever—across the historic monitor. There is not a single manufacturing automobile that is quicker, and solely the Porsche 919 Hybrid EVO race automobile had a greater lap time (5:19.546).
Nio EP9
6:45.9
The Nio EP9 is not technically a manufacturing automobile, despite the fact that the corporate constructed and offered 10 of them between 2016 and 2019 for a cool $3 million every. The track-only hypercar had 4 electrical motors mounted on every wheel for a complete output of 1,341 horsepower and 1,091 pound-feet of torque, good for a 0-60 mph time of round 2.6 seconds and a prime velocity of 194 mph.
In 2017, Nio let the EP9 free on the Nurburgring Nordschleife with British racing driver Peter Dumbreck behind the wheel. Dumbreck set a lap time of 6:45.90—beating the Nio’s former file 7:05.12 set in 2016 (this time with race tires), and second solely to the McLaren P1 XP1 LM Prototype on the time, which did it in 6:43.22. The EV9 is at the moment fifth on the checklist of non-production vehicles and second solely in EVs to the VW ID.R.
7:05.2
The primary actual, precise manufacturing automobile on this checklist is the Rimac Nevera—even when it’s a $2.2-million hypercar. Powered by 4 permanent-magnet synchronous electrical motors, the Nevera has 1,888 horsepower and a 0-60 mph time of 1.7 seconds. It’s, by definition, the quickest automobile on sale immediately.
It is no slouch on the monitor, both. Late in 2023, Rimac set a manufacturing EV file with the Nevera on the Nurburgring Nordschleife with a lap time of seven:05.29. Croatian racing driver Martin Kodric was behind the wheel.
7:07.5
The latest entrant on this checklist (as talked about earlier) is the Taycan Turbo GT—the quickest, strongest manufacturing Porsche ever. With as much as 1,092 horsepower courtesy of two electrical motors, this Taycan races to 60 miles per hour in 2.1 seconds and on to a prime velocity of 190. And with the Wiessach package deal (the primary four-door Porsche to get the choice), this Taycan ditches the rear seats and provides carbon fiber to maintain the hefty EV underneath 5,000 kilos.
Again in January, Porsche took a Taycan Turbo GT prototype with the Weissach package deal to the Nurburgring and recorded a lap time of seven:07.55. With seasoned racing driver Lars Kern behind the wheel, the Turbo GT turned the quickest four-door EV on the ‘Ring and the quickest of any four-door manufacturing sedan, beating out the Jaguar XE Mission 8.
Toyota TMG EV P002
7:22.3
In case the identify did not give it away, that is no manufacturing Toyota. The TMG EV P002 was an electrical race automobile prototype produced by Toyota in 2012 with 469 horsepower and 885 pound-feet of torque. With Jochen Krumbach behind the wheel, Toyota took to the Nurburgring that very same yr and recorded a quick lap of seven:22.32. At the moment Toyota did break the EV lap file, nevertheless it was short-lived.
Tesla Mannequin S Plaid W/ Monitor Pack
7:25.2
The Porsche/Tesla rivalry escalated in 2023. Tesla returned to the Nordschleife two years after its first run with one other Mannequin S Plaid, this time fitted with an non-obligatory Monitor package deal. The Monitor pack added higher brakes the next top-speed limiter, in addition to controversial tires. Whereas authorized within the US, the tires did not meet European necessities for street use, main some to name the lap null and void for a street-legal car.
Nevertheless you view it, the hefty sedan nonetheless lined the north loop in 7:25.2. It simply topped the Taycan Turbo S to assert the EV manufacturing file as soon as once more, nevertheless it was short-lived. A number of months later, the Rimac Nevera would sail in to successfully shut down the Porsche/Tesla rivalry.
Porsche Taycan Turbo S
7:33.3
The second Taycan file try on the Nurburgring got here in 2022. Whether or not or not Tesla’s 2021 file with the Mannequin S Plaid had something to do with it’s unknown, however Porsche managed to lop off practically 10 seconds in comparison with the lap laid down by the Taycan Turbo.
At 7:33.3, the Turbo S additionally beat the Mannequin S Plaid by a couple of seconds to reclaim the EV file. Along with the additional energy accessible from the Turbo S, the automobile had a brand new efficiency equipment and the Porsche Dynamic Chassis Management system. These aren’t aftermarket upgrades, that means the lap time is official for a collection manufacturing car.
Tesla Mannequin S Plaid
7:35.5
It wasn’t lengthy after Tesla introduced the upgraded Mannequin S Plaid that rumors of a Nurburgring file try surfaced. The rumors had been fueled by Mannequin S sightings on the monitor in 2021, placing its tri-motor powertrain with 1,020 horsepower to the check.
And the rumors had been finally true. The sizable sedan recorded an official lap time of seven:35.5—falling wanting expectations for a low 7-minute run however nonetheless sufficient to beat the Taycan Turbo. For a short while, anyway.
Porsche Taycan Turbo
7:42.3
Launching in 2019 for the 2020 mannequin yr, the Taycan Turbo is Porsche’s first fashionable EV. And it is a formidable debut, wielding 616 horsepower in regular operation or 671 ponies with overboost activated. Porsche lists a 0-60 mph time of three.0 seconds flat. And that is the “base” mannequin Taycan.
Whereas technically the slowest Porsche Taycan on the Nurburgring, it is nonetheless lots quick. The automaker clocked an official time of seven:42.3 with a preproduction mannequin again in 2019, matching the previous-generation BMW M4 CS. That is not dangerous for a beefy electrical four-door sedan.
Electrical RaceAbout
7:44.8
Within the early 2010s, this one-off electrical sports activities automobile was making waves. Developed and inbuilt Finland by the Helsinki Metropolia College of Utilized Sciences, it first attacked the Nurburgring in 2011, however couldn’t fairly break the 8-minute barrier. The group wasn’t performed making an attempt.
Pumping out 400 horsepower via a quad-motor powertrain, the group returned in 2015 and Sport Auto drove it for a correctly fast 7:44.8 lap. On the time it was an EV file for a street-legal automobile, although being a one-off, it clearly couldn’t declare manufacturing standing.
7:45.5
We’ve not seen a lot of Kia or Hyundai on the Nurburgring, at the least almost about lap instances. The South Korean conglomerate has a plethora of EVs on sale now or coming quickly, and the Ioniq 5 N is decidedly aimed toward followers of efficiency. With as much as 641 horsepower accessible in brief spurts with the N Grin Enhance perform (N for Nurburgring, clearly), there’s loads of energy to go quick.
The N therapy would not merely add energy, as the parents from the German publication Sport Auto—who achieved the lap—came upon. Larger brakes, decrease suspension, and sticky tires contributed to a formidable 7:45.5 lap time with driver Christian Gebhardt behind the wheel.
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Electrical
7:56.2
Lengthy earlier than the letters EQ had been synonymous with electrical Mercedes automobiles, there was the SLS AMG Electrical Drive. With gullwing doorways and a day-glo paint job, the supercar was inconceivable to overlook. And when it debuted in 2012, it backed up these attractiveness with 738 horsepower. A 60.0-kilowatt-hour battery powered 4 electrical motors, sending the 4,700-pound automobile to 60 mph in lower than 4 seconds.
A timed lap across the Nordschleife adopted in 2013, sending the electrical SLS underneath the eight-minute mark. Sadly, the battery solely had sufficient energy to make one full-power lap, and underneath regular driving situations, the vary was barely 120 miles. Round 100 had been initially deliberate for manufacturing, however solely 9 had been made.
Audi R8 E-Tron
8:09.0
It is laborious to imagine the Audi R8 E-Tron debuted 15 years in the past. Again then, it was a pre-production supercar identified finest for its look within the Iron Man film franchise. Nevertheless it wasn’t only a fairly face, using a dual-motor powertrain with a 49.0-kilowatt-hour battery producing 376 horsepower and 605 pound-feet of torque. It would not sound like a lot lately, however in 2012, that was sufficient to offer the R8 E-Tron the EV Nordschleife file with a lap time of 8:09.
The R8 E-Tron turned a correct manufacturing automobile in 2015, however the run was short-lived. Much less that 100 had been finally constructed earlier than Audi pulled the plug only one yr later, leaving area for different E-Tron fashions to comply with. Satirically, none of these have made official Nurburgring lap makes an attempt.
Peugeot EX1 Idea
9:01.34
Peugeot was a participant within the early days of the fashionable EV period with the EX1 idea. Not like ideas from Audi or Porsche, Peugeot had no phantasm about sending this to manufacturing. A tiny two-seater with an open cockpit, it relied on a light-weight design with a dual-motor powertrain producing simply 335 horsepower.
In 2011, that was sufficient for Peugeot to assert a Nurburgring file for EVs. The lap time of 9:01.34 was removed from aggressive within the combustion phase, nevertheless it outclassed the Mini E’s 2010 lap by practically a full minute.
Mini E
9:52.0
Within the infancy of electrification, Mini debuted the E prototype—a gas-converted Cooper with a modest 201 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque. The skunkworks venture finally led to the manufacturing BMW i3, however not earlier than a go ‘around the ‘Ring.
In 2010, Thomas Jagr accomplished a lap of the Nordschleife behind the wheel of the Mini E Racer in 9:52. It was the primary EV ever to finish a timed lap of the Nurburgring, and whereas it isn’t holding on to any data lately, a sub-10-minute time for a fledgling expertise was spectacular nonetheless.
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