Everyone from Ford to Bentley has announced some sort of plug-in or pure hybrid on the horizon, while newcomers like Fisker and Tesla are hoping to seize upon the new market.
The recently announced Veritas RS III Roadster Hybrid is the latest of these vehicles, making the lofty claim that it will be the fastest plug-in hybrid on the market.
Who is Veritas?The original Veritas was a company that tuned BMWs and briefly fielded a Formula 1 team in the early 1950s. A few years ago some automotive enthusiasts got together to form Vermot AG. This company planned to revived the brand with an over-the-top supercar to be hand-built in a factory near the legendary Nurburgring racetrack.
Unlike similar ventures, Vermot has actually survived long enough to build this car.
The Veritas RS III could be considered a modern-day rendition of the original company's Meteor F1 car. It may have the 5.0l V10 out of a BMW M5, but the engine is wrapped in a carbon composite body that is barely three feet tall. The cabin is a monoposto layout: There's only a single seat with a small windscreen and a roll bar. Combined with its pointed front end, the RS III looks like something that would battle Speed Racer. However, this brings the car's weight down to just 2,300 lbs, nearly a ton lighter than the M5.
Cost of this bespoke car was 410,550 Euros, or a bit over $580,000 U.S. at current currency rates.
Now the company is ready to produce a new model, the Veritas RS III Roadster Hybrid. This adds an electric motor and batteries the RS III, allowing the supercar to drive on electricity alone up to 31 miles on a single charge. The system adds 500lbs, but when the 507 horsepower V10 is paired with the 105 kW (93 hp) electric motor it can go from 0 to 100 kph (0-62 mph) in just 3.1 seconds. That’s slightly faster than the original RS III. Top speed drops from 215 mph to 205. The electric motor drives the front wheels, making the car all wheel drive at speed.
Power is regenerated from braking using a KERS. Remember that acronym: Kinetic Energy Regeneration Systems are now legal in Formula 1 again after a brief ban last season and will start popping up in supercars across the board, giving them a legitimate performance reason to go green.
The RS III Roadster Hybrid will start production soon with an RS III coupe beginning production this summer and an all-electric model arriving in 2013. Like the previous car, these vehicles will have very low production numbers.
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