McLaren says it's testing a pure-electric hypercar

McLaren has confirmed it is well underway to developing an all-new next-generation hypercar that's will ditch the P1's turbocharged V8 petrol-electric hybrid for a pure-electric powertrain.

Speaking to Brit mag Autocar, McLaren engineering chief Dan Parry-Williams confirmed the car-maker has built a battery-powered hypercar prototype and that testing has already highlighted the huge challenges ahead.

Biggest issue, says Parry-Williams, is not creating a hypercar with an acceptable range on the road, but one that can cover a decent distance at high speed on a track.

"Let's say you want to drive on track for half an hour," said Parry-Williams.

"If it was an EV, that car would have over 500 miles of [road] 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."

Tasked with delivering "driver engagement in a fully electric world," the McLaren tech boss says there's still "quite a journey" before the British car-maker creates its first zero-emission car.

Parry-Williams hopes the rapid advance of battery technology holds the key for a pure-electric P1 replacement but laments the development of the current breed of energy-dense lithium-ion batteries that provide decent range at normal speeds, but not the power density needed for hypercar-levels of performance.

In the meantime, more hybrid McLarens will fill the gap, with Parry-Williams confirming the car-maker is still on track for fulfilling its commitment that 50 per cent of all McLarens sold by 2022 will be hybrids.

“You can potentially manage [a flat battery] with a niche car,” said Parry-Williams. “If you exhaust the battery but then have to do one recharging lap, that strikes me as being OK.

"But if you haven’t got an on-board generator [and] you’ve got a full EV, you haven’t got the luxury of doing that," said the McLaren chief engineer.