Electric Hypercar Smashes 0-100km/h in Under 2 Seconds [Video]

Tesla’s electric Roadster has generated a lot of hype for the potential of speedy electric cars becoming a mainstream thing, and there’s already a potential challenger to that throne; the Aspark Owl.

It gets full marks for visual appeal, but the Batmobile-shape isn’t the main reason why this car is going to be turning heads. Its most impressive feature is its combination of power output with an extremely lightweight build, producing 430bhp and tipping the scales at only 850kg. That power-to-weight ratio allows it to manage this:

Now, there are traditional petrol engines that produce the same amount of power or more in similarly heavy chassis, why aren’t they as quick? The simple answer is that a car using batteries can dump a significant amount of its charge (and therefore power) at the drop of a hat, while a traditional petrol engine has to travel through its rev-range and into its optimal power band before it’s really cooking on gas.

It looks like electric cars don’t just have petrol engines beat when it comes to being environmentally friendly, they might outrun them on tracks, too.