Nurdin Pitarevic, Rimac Technology’s COO, spoke with Autocar about the company’s next-generation e-axles and solid-state batteries. A new Bugatti in 2030 might use solid-state batteries, which are expected to be 66 pounds lighter and up to 30% more efficient at storing energy. The e-axles have the motor, gearbox, and control systems. They generate a lot of power and are over 100 pounds lighter. Bugatti is changing the way it works. In late November, the last Bolide was finished. This meant that production of the W-16 engine, which first became famous in the Veyron, had come to an end. The next Tourbillon will have 16 cylinders in a V form. Electric assistance will also be included. After Bugatti merged with the Croatian electric vehicle company Rimac in 2021, it began using electric assistance more frequently. Still, the company will keep pushing the limits of technology, even though future Bugattis will be electric. Autocar reports that Rimac is working on new solid-state batteries to power a new Bugatti in 2030. Nurdin Pitarevic, who is the chief operating officer of Rimac Technology (which is part of the larger Rimac Group and includes the Bugatti Rimac joint venture), revealed the news in an interview. Pitarevic told Autocar that Rimac is working on solid-state batteries and small, powerful e-axles to give Bugatti’s future supercars strength. Pitarevic says that Rimac is working on solid-state batteries with Mitsubishi’s composite materials teams and the cell maker ProLogium. Pitarevic said that the goal is to put these batteries in a new Bugatti in 2030. He called this “mid-volume production,” and testing will start soon. Even though it’s not clear what this means, could it be a Tourbillon-based racecar that’s cheaper? There wouldn’t be many of them made, unlike how other car companies do things. More importantly, Pitarevic said that by 2035, solid-state batteries should cost about the same as today’s NMC batteries. This would let people who can’t afford a multimillion-dollar supercar access those kinds of batteries. He adds that Rimac would consider licensing the technology to an interested automaker, but the company doesn’t plan to produce enough of it to put it in more common cars. Solid-state cells can make things a lot better. A 100-kWh sample is said to weigh 66 pounds less and to be 20% to 30% more energy-dense. Mitsubishi’s new ultra-stiff polymer shell is mostly responsible for the latter, and Pitarevic said that the batteries will charge more quickly and safely. New batteries will be used with new e-axles that have an electric drive motor, a gearbox, and control electronics. Pitarevic says these packs can work with front-, rear-, and all-wheel-drive setups and produce 200 to 470 horsepower. You can also use them in electric and hybrid cars. Pitarevic says that some companies, like BMW, Porsche, and CEER (an electric vehicle startup backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund), have already become clients. Pitarevic told Autocar about a couple of e-axles that they are working on right now. For example, CEER is making an SUV that hasn’t been released yet, weighing 291 pounds and delivering as much power as one of the 612-hp, 436-pound rear engines in the Rimac Nevera. While that’s happening, Rimac is working on an e-axle weighing just 106 pounds and delivering about 500 horsepower. A lot of these big steps are still years away, but Rimac’s fast growth and amazing-looking electric supercars are good signs for the company’s technology future.
