Aston Martin racing to launch 600kW all-electric Rapide

Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer has revealed the British car-maker is racing to deliver an all-electric, all-wheel drive version of the brand's four-door Rapide sedan that will be on sale within two years.

Speaking at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance to a crowd of show-goers, journalists and potential buyers, Palmer revealed the all-electric Rapide will be the most powerful road car Aston Martin makes, packing an incredible 600kW.

The all-electric Rapide will also have a range of more than 320km.

As well as the electric Rapide, Aston’s boss also confirimed that once launched it will be followed by an all-electric version of the DBX SUV.

When asked about timings for the sporty crossover, Palmer said the DBX will be on sale before the end of the decade.

Explaining the reason behind not one, but two, all-electric vehicles, Aston’s boss said zero-emission vehicles would help
balance out some of its more traditional V8 and V12 powered sports cars in terms of fleet-average CO2 emissions.

“If you want to keep making V12 engines, then you’ve got to do something at the opposite end of the spectrum," Palmer told newswire Automotive News.

Following questions about how expensive the Rapide might be when it goes on sale in 2017, Palmer wouldn’t be drawn out on exact pricing, but told automotive News: “What Tesla clearly shows you is we haven’t hit the ceiling in terms of price.”

Later on it was reported that the Aston CEO hinted pricing for the all-electric Rapide would be around the $200,000-$250,000 range.

When asked if Aston Martin would mimic Tesla’s ‘Insane’ and ‘Ludicrous’ modes, the British car-maker’s CEO described both as “stupid”.

“I think that the fact that you could drive a few laps of a decent race course or race it around the Nordschleife is much more interesting than doing 500 metres in Ludicrous mode.”

Nevertheless, the Rapide EV will no doubt be offered with extreme levels of performance. Expected to switch its aluminium body panels for lightweight carbon-fibre to offset the weight of the batteries, the 600kW all-electric Rapide could match the most powerful Tesla Model S’ 0-100km/h claim of just 2.8 seconds but should still be limited to 250km/h.