You may have heard of the Aspark Owl before. It's a fully electric hypercar produced in Japan, and it just set two EV speed records this week, with top speeds just shy of 200 MPH.
Aspark says the quad-motor 1,980-horsepower Owl – which also has a commanding 1,475 pound-feet of torque – is capable of rocketing from zero to 60 mph in just 1.72 seconds, which is quicker than the Tesla Model S Plaid and Rimac Nevera. The Nevera just set at least 23 new records, including a 1.74-second zero-to-60 mph sprint. The Owl has a top speed of 260 mph.
The Owl uses a 64 kWh battery pack to get about 250 miles of driving range, and it only takes about 40 minutes to recharge.
The Owl's recent sprints took place in northern England, at Alivington Airfield. The EV was awarded two Guinness World Records for having the fastest-ever recorded average speed for an electric car over both eighth- and quarter-mile passes. Aspark CEO Masanori Yoshida shared:
“It’s a great honour for Aspark to be the first to announce this achievement, reached in a record time. When we first announced this project, no one believed it could have been done. It is true that we do not have a long history, but we are now completing what is the first Japanese electric hypercar.”
In the eighth-mile run, the Apark Owl averaged an impressive 309.02 kph or 192.02 mph. Over the quarter mile, the electric supercar had an even quicker average speed of 318.85 kph or 198.12mph.
According to Reuters via Autoblog, Aspark has been developing the Owl electric hypercar since 2015. The company has over 3,500 employees and 25 global offices, though its headquarters is in Osaka, Japan.
If you can get your hands on an Aspark Owl (there will only be 50 copies initially), it will set you back £2.5million. The company plans to begin deliveries later in 2023.
Interestingly, even though the Owl set the record for the fastest average speed over the quarter mile, the Rimac Nevera still holds the record as the quickest production EV in the quarter-mile run, which it pulled off in just 8.582 seconds. The Nevera also holds the record for the highest top speed ever recorded for an EV, at 258 mph.
