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Rimac Nevera Proves EVs Can Be Fun and Exciting, but This Comes at the Cost of Their Soul

Electric vehicles are being praised as the cars of the future, and they very well might be considering all the effort that is being put into the electrification of modern mobility.
Rimac Nevera 16 photos
Photo: YouTube / Misha Charoudin
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Well, that is not strictly true. Not if we’re lucky at least. Petrolheads can still cling onto a glimmer of hope if the technology for making synthetic ethanol out of carbon dioxide takes off. That could, at the very least, give us a few more years of glorious explosions before everything goes quiet.

Still, no matter which side of the fence you find yourself on regarding this development, discussions about it are warranted. Not just because more and more people are making the switch but because exciting EVs are a thing.

But that might come with a price. As we’ve seen with a lot of modern cars, technology is becoming a symbiotic part of the vehicle. That can be a good thing, at least for people who dislike driving and those who either need or want driver-aids to make the experience less troublesome.

However, for the rest of us, that sounds like sad news. We’ve seen it happen with off-roaders, where technology is significantly lowering the skill floor for enjoying this type of hobby. The same thing is happening to sports cars, where gizmos and gadgets are making it easier to go fast.

Again, this is great as it allows more people to join in on the action. We should probably rejoice in the fact that this allows the community to grow, even if it creates a slight divide between rookies and purists. But at what cost?

A great way of answering that question is to look at what the Rimac Nevera is able to do. The car is monstrously powerful, with almost 2,000 horses at the disposal of the driver. This can lead to blistering acceleration, amazing lap times, and overall tremendous fun.

But there is a caveat to this. The car is doing a lot of the work for you. The best example of it is the drift mode, which is annoyingly smart if you choose to use it. That might sound like a lot of doom and gloom, but let me give a quick overview of how it works.

The Nevera uses its sensors to account for a lot of different factors. It analyzes the ground speed of the car along with the speed of both the front and rear wheels, the angle of the car, and the amount of throttle applied. It then takes all this information to determine how much power is needed to keep the drift going. This means that, even at full throttle, the car will only provide the power it deems necessary, even engaging the front motors to help you.

While it is true that, with the way EVs deliver torque, it would be a serious challenge to control them, that is part of the fun for people who engage in this hobby. Going up the learning curve and becoming better is a huge part of learning any new skill.

Another significantly clever thing that the car does can be found in the track mode option. With four independent motors and smart torque vectoring, the car can adjust its behavior on the fly. Gone are the days of messing with the setup of the vehicle on track days, replaced with cold computational power.

Even when it comes to launching the vehicle, this system kicks in. It can make the car so stable and planted that you don’t even have to keep your hands on the wheel. While it can be argued that technology is supposed to help us, there is the question of where it starts making us feel redundant.

It is true that all of these features can be adjusted, even turned off almost completely. Still, one cannot help but wonder if making things easier is taking away from the fun of learning. Is the inclusion of so many smart features on a car slowly gnawing away at its soul?

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About the author: Bogdan Bebeselea
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As a kid, Bogdan grew up handing his dad the tools needed to work on his old Citroen and asking one too many questions about everything happening inside the engine bay. Naturally, this upbringing led Bogdan to become an engineer, but thanks to Top Gear, The Fast and the Furious series, and racing video games, a passion for automotive entertainment was ignited.
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