Pagani defines electric future

Pagani’s first-ever electric hypercar is not going to save the planet. Indeed, its buyers could do more for the planet by turning off the lights in their factories or offices.

That’s the opinion of the eponymous bespoke Italian car builder’s founder, Horacio Pagani (pictured). Instead it’s the performance and the challenge of building an EV true to the marque’s tradition of combining art and science that’s driving the development of the vehicle, Pagani told motoring.com.au today.

Speaking at the formal announcement of the entry of Pagani Automobili into the Australian marketplace, Pagani spoke candidly about his company’s EV plans.

“We have created a new team inside Pagani to develop the electric car parallel to our next combustion car,” Pagani said via an interpreter.

“It’s very interesting to work on -- it will be a new concept for an electric car,” he explained.

Pagani says it’s performance, not green, potential that attracts him to an EV model.

“I’m sure how many of our clients are ready to pay such a large cheque [for an EV]. It would more benefit [for the environment] to replace their water boiler or turn off the lights off in their factories or offices at a set time… But I’m convinced [of the potential].

“It [the car] may have zero emissions but behind it [the electricity] is still polluting,” he opined

Pagani’s cars have been lauded for their attention to detail (automotive jewellery is one label) but the cars feature a high-level of technology developed with partners like Daimler (via AMG) and Bosch. It’s perhaps no surprise then, he’s less than impressed with the current EV offer.

“Currently the level of technology in electric cars is not so high. [Compared to our existing Huayra] They are like washing machines,” he quipped.

“The disadvantage [of EVs] is weight. One of our key areas of expertise is composite – of transferring [reducing] weight. Generally our car is 200-250kg lighter [than our competitors], so we would already have ‘room’ for a battery pack.

“It is unchartered territory to build such a car – not at Tesla level but at hypercar level. But I cannot be blind to the potential.

"It is our responsibility [to explore the potential],” Pagani explained.

Pagani revealed his EV plans in an interview with a Spanish outlet earlier this month. The EV is not expected to debut until 2025. No substantive details have been released.

It’s not clear whether the EV model will be a variant of an existing model, or a standalone model. Pagani’s comments today hinted towards the latter.

Pagani Automobili typically builds just one variant/model at a time – in batches of approximately 100. The company’s newest model, the Huayra Roadster was unveiled at the 2017 Geneva Show and is likely to be in production until 2020.

The Huayra Roadster is the first Pagani and first hypercar to go on sale Down Under with full Australian compliance.