ALIENO ARCANUM is an all-electric hypercar, which in its top version has power of 5221 hp (3840 kW), 8880 Nm of torque, a top speed of over 488 km/h (303 mph) and a power-to-weight ratio of up to 2.64 hp/kg.
Founded in 2015 with headquarters in Bulgaria, ALIENO creates hypercars ‘from the future.’ The name of the brand is derived from the Italian word “alieno”, which means “alien”. The name of the model is derived from the Latin word “arcanum”, which means “the secret of the secrets”.
It is based on innovative ALIENO technologies and know-how and is a 2-door / 2-seater robotic all-electric hypercar. Actually, the first of its kind.
Ahmed Merchev, founder, CEO & CTO of ALIENO and chief constructor of ARCANUM, shares: “ALIENO ARCANUM is an all-electric hypercar from the future with a brutal technical superiority, which is in the basis of the DNA of the brand ALIENO. This our first debut model, expresses clearly the mission of ALIENO to create hypercars with alien technologies from the future into the present. ALIENO ARCANUM does not follow the rules, but it creates new ones, providing an extremely exciting driving experience and enjoyment. By this, it touches not only the senses, but also your soul. Moreover, considering the intelligence of the car achieved through the ALIENO artificial intelligence systems built into it, it is like having at disposal your own alien, being your guide, your guardian and who teaches you how to reach its full potential, while driving it.”
Versions:
Based on their power, ALIENO ARCANUM is available in the following 4 versions, which are also applicable for all other ALIENO models: RP5 with power of 5221 hp, RP4 with power of 4351 hp, RP3 with power of 3481 hp and RP2 with power of 2610 hp. Where RP stands for “Raw Power”, while the corresponding number after it (5, 4, 3, 2) shows the approximate power of the version in thousands of horsepower.
Acceleration times and other dynamic characteristics will be announced additionally.
Modifications:
According to its purpose, each of the versions is available in 3 basic modifications: STR (Street), TRC (Track) and RCE (Race), whose basic dynamic characteristics are the same, but only differ by standards/homologations they meet.
The STR (Street) modification, is a street-legal car (a car approved for use on public roads) with global homologation.
The TRC (Track) modification is a track day car (car intended for use on a track) and does not fall under any restrictions, which are normally required by any homologations.
The RCE (Race) modification is a race car optimized to cover the requirements of specific race championships, while ALIENO is even prepared to modify the car to meet the requirements needed for the heir of LMP1 category of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and FIA World Endurance Championship, immediately after the rules of the championship allow participation in it of an all-electric hypercars, powered by batteries, what ALIENO hypercars are.
Ivan Kirov, CTP (Chief Test Pilot) and CSO (Chief Sales Officer) of ALIENO, shares: “Our debut first model ALIENO ARCANUM, is definitely the most powerful hypercar, the world has ever seen. Not only it is the most powerful car, but it is robotic and all-electric. This means that it is so much faster in any way, than an equivalent in power, ordinary combustion engine car. This is due to the high efficiency of the electric motors and the innovative ALIENO technologies that we built into the car. That is why, in our work on the ARCANUM model, we have faced a huge challenge and are taking huge responsibility for our clients. The challenge comes from the fact, that we not only had to do something extraordinary, in terms of the power of the car, which was of course very difficult technically in the first place, but we also and mainly had to make it usable. What I mean by that is, that we had to utilize this power, in such a way, that it could be used by the car and the driver. What would be the use of a car, which has so much power, but you can use only a fraction of it. Or if it would be too dangerous or difficult to drive. And here comes the biggest challenge in creating this car, as we had to make sure we were creating a user friendly car, which is drivable. Not only drivable, but also pleasant to drive. Easy to drive, smooth, fun, enjoyable, safe or simply flawless. Superior in every way, to what we have seen or driven so far. Just perfect. Everything in this car happens logically. The maximum acceleration is easily achievable, by anyone who buys the car. The car is the safest one on the road in any term. It is amazingly stable and maneuverable. The braking is smooth and also logical. It feels like a normal car for anyone who drives it. Of course, it is the fastest one as well, whenever you want it. The biggest challenge was to make the car behave like a normal car, so it can give the most driving pleasure to anyone and thus help to provide the highest safety.”
Chassis & Body:
ALIENO ARCANUM has an innovative ALIENO chassis, built entirely from pre-preg carbon-fiber/kevlar(aramid) and honeycomb core and consists of carbon-fiber monocoque with carbon-fiber front and rear subframes. The bottom is reinforced with carbon-kevlar(aramid). There are structural reinforcements and crumple/deformation zones from carbon-kevlar(aramid) for front, rear, side, upper and lower impacts, as well as front and rear carbon-kevlar(aramid) crash structures. In addition to its low weight, safety and strength, the chassis also features maximum torsional rigidity and allows the construction of a lightweight and aerodynamic shape of the exterior.
All core nodes (elements) of the car are robotic and are regulated electronically. The exterior is built completely from ALIENO robotic pre-preg carbon panels.
ALIENO ARCANUM has two ALIENO robotic pre-preg carbon-fiber Butterfly wing doors, ALIENO robotic intelligent air conditioning system, ALIENO aerodynamic side digital mirrors, ALIENO front and rear adaptive matrix LED lights and ALIENO robotic pre-preg carbon-fiber wheels.
It is equipped with ALIENO pre-preg carbon-fiber, fully air-conditioned, fully electrically-adjustable and with memory robotic sports and racing seats with memory foam, leather and Alcantara. It also has an ALIENO quick release, pre-preg carbon-fiber racing type steering wheel with fully electrically-adjustable memory robotic steering column and robotic pedal box, as well as ALIENO robotic power steering with variable ratio, speed sensitive and mode selectable.
Encho Enchev, CDO (Chief Design Officer) of ALIENO and chief designer of ARCANUM, shares: “Like everything else we do at ALIENO, our goal with the model ARCANUM was to create something unique, something that you do not see every day and something with unmatched performance. The ARCANUM model combines sharp edges and smooth curves at the same time, which contributes to the creation of a unique and very distinctive design. The whole car looks like a sculpture and all the elements are actually functional and not just a decoration. The overall shape of the car and its low-profile, contribute to the creation of an aggressive looks. We have managed to achieve this exterior design, without compromising the comfort and ergonomics of the driver. ARCANUM is a model, that can accommodate pilots that are taller than 2m (6’7″). Very few hypercars nowadays are able to do that. The color scheme that we selected for the unveiling of the model, is visible varnished carbon-fiber with light blue accents at key spots. For this project, we had few main sources of inspiration. The first one is the animal kingdom and sharks in particular. If you look at the front of the car you can see the resemblance. On top of the front fenders, you can see cooling vents, which look very much like shark gills. Another very interesting detail in the design is the element which bares the rear wing and looks like a shark fin. The next source of inspiration comes from the United States Air Force. The aesthetics of special aircrafts like F-117 Night Hawk, F-22 Raptor and SR-71 Blackbird, play a key role in the shaping of ARCANUM. The last influence in the design, comes from the cult movie series Star Wars and in particular from the helmet of Darth Vader. The only thing you need to do, is to look at the rear of the car and use your imagination”.
ALIENO ARCANUM can be equipped with few different versions of the interior, details of which will be further revealed. Among them, there are futuristic designs, as well as more moderate and classic designs, which will be available for all other models of ALIENO. The goal is to provide optimal choice for each customer, as when it comes to the interior space of the car, where the ALIENO customer will spend most of his time, he is not restricted with only one interior, that he may not like, but has the option to choose from few different ones, according to his own personal preferences. The interior is made from ALIENO pre-preg carbon-fiber details, leather and Alcantara.
The technologies from ARCANUM are available for all other ALIENO models, all of which have unique and different exterior design, with which ALIENO aims to cover all major design styles, rather than being limited to one of them. The goal here again is to cover all preferences of the customers, rather than be limited to only one exterior design, which is not suitable for the taste of everyone.
Apart from the choice of version, modification and interior, ALIENO ARCANUM can be ordered with customer selectable battery, wheels, tires, steering wheel, seats and even rear wing, amongst different options offered by ALIENO. The ARCANUM model, like all other ALIENO models, has entirely modular architecture and allows unrestricted further modification, and of course, future upgrades with the latest technologies.
Aerodynamics:
ALIENO ARCANUM has innovative ALIENO active, robotic and adaptive aerodynamics, with a lot of active robotic elements, flaps and mechanisms, part of which are visible in the exterior design, while others are inside of the car. This innovative technology, allows for an improved movement and channeling of the airflow around the car, with main purpose of increasing the stability and the drag of the car to the road. Of course, depending on the need, this drag can be easily and precisely adjusted, for achieving higher speed.
Powertrain:
ALIENO ARCANUM is driven by an innovative ALIENO direct drive electric powertrain, realized with from 3 (in the RP2 version) up to 6 (in the RP5 version) electric motors per wheel. Total of 12 (in the RP2 version) up to 24 electric motors (in the RP5 version). The electric motors are connected with a common connecting axis, to transfer the power to the according wheel through a half-shaft.
Instead of one big electric motor, several smaller ones are used, that are individually controlled (each from its own motor controller) according to the needs, which significantly increases the possibilities and efficiency of the car in all its modes and speeds and the efficiency reaches up to 97%.
The electric motors in use are type AC three-phase axial flux electric motors with powerful permanent magnets, that provide the current technological maximum as power and torque per unit weight and volume, since they combine very high power with very high torque of the electric motor in very low own weight and low volume of the electric motor. They have almost unlimited life span and maximum torque from 0 all the way to their maximum rpm.
The powertrain has 3 different basic drive modes (Street, Track and Race), which are activated depending on the desired use of the car and the desired dynamic characteristics preferred by the driver. In any of these modes, through adjustments of the load on the respective front and rear electric motors (the electric motors connected to the front wheels and the electric motors connected to the rear wheels), there is the possibility to precisely change the distribution of power between the front wheels and the rear wheels from 0% to 100% and from 100% to 0% respectively. In any of these combinations, the control system has the possibility to provide energy efficient drive of the car.
Apart from that, innovative ALIENO real-time system for vector control of the torque of each wheel separately has been implemented in the control system, thanks to the individual and direct drive through electric motors of each wheel (from 3 to 6 electric motors per wheel) and the lack of mechanical reducers containing heavy and bulky mechanical parts with friction parts.
Given the ALIENO direct drive, the torque of the powertrain and the wheels is identical and is 8880 Nm in the RP5 version, 7400 Nm in the RP4 version, 5920 Nm in the RP3 version, and 4440 Nm in the RP2 version, and is practically available from 0 to the maximum rpm of the electric motors, i.e. at any speed of the car.
Battery:
ALIENO ARCANUM is powered by an innovative ALIENO battery, composed of Graphene LiPo cells and Supercapacitors.
Graphene LiPo cells are built through nanotechnologies forming graphene (a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice). In comparison with the standard LiPo cells, the Graphene LiPo cells are capable of maintaining greater power output, have a higher energy density, lower internal resistance, higher discharge and charge rates, longer life span, and they stay way cooler and stable under full load and peak operating modes.
The supercapacitors, accumulate energy from the electric motors when the car is braking and they give it back to the powertrain when needed, mainly in the peak dynamic modes – when starting, accelerating and braking the car.
The battery is available in the following 3 variants: SBP (Street Battery Pack), with a capacity of 180 kWh, TBP (Track Battery Pack) with a capacity of 120 kWh and RBP (Race Battery Pack) with capacity of 60 kWh. They cover all practical needs: the SBP battery provides a long mileage, reaching up to 1020 km on a single charge, the TBP battery provides enough mileage of several laps on a track, while the RBP battery provides the lowest weight and respectively maximum dynamic characteristics of the car during races.
At maximum load in mode Race, on a single charge, depending on the battery with which it is equipped (variant RBP, TBP or SBP), its version and modification, ARCANUM can complete from 1 to 3 full laps on the track Nürburgring (on which the race 24 Hours Nürburgring takes place) and from 2 to 6 full laps on the track Circuit de la Sarthe (on which the race 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place).
The maximum voltage of the battery is 800V, as it is designed to provide huge power, where in the SBP variant it can reach up to 11.7 MW continuous power and 23.4 MW peak power.
Furthermore, the battery is capable of absorbing huge power during charging and regenerative braking, reaching up to 2.7 MW in the SBP variant.
The battery consists of few ALIENO Plug & Play interchangeable modules, as the car automatically adjusts its parameters according to the number and the status of the installed modules. It is possible to install different number of modules, with the idea of providing different capacities between the three base variants of the battery. In this case, according to the desired number of battery modules, “the alien” guides the user, where exactly he should place the modules, in order to achieve maximum stability and lowest center of gravity of the car, and of course achieving optimal weight distribution between the front and rear axles.
The minimum capacity of the battery that needs to be available to reach the maximum power of the car is 30 kWh for the RP5 version, 25 kWh for the RP4 version, 20 kWh for the RP3 version and 15 kWh for the RP2 version, which provides opportunity for significant optimization of the weight and the dynamic characteristics of the car on a track during track days and races (by installing just the number of battery modules required for the particular purpose).
The ALIENO Plug & Play interchangeable modules, also provide an option for easy replacement and upgrade of the battery with a new one. They have multiple built-in safety and security systems.
ALIENO ARCANUM has several different options for charging of the battery, including a wireless inductive, 3-phase 22 kW on-board and 350 kW DC Combo (CCS). Optionally available is also 400 kW DC CHAdeMO.
With a 350 kW DC Combo (CCS) charging station, from 0 to 100% SoC (State of charge), the SBP battery is charged for 30 min, the TBP battery for 20 min, and the RBP battery for 10 min.
Furthermore, the battery is designed in such a way, that with a special ALIENO DC charging station (900 kW DC for the RBP battery, 1800 kW DC for the TBP battery and 2700 kW DC for the SBP battery), designed and built by ALIENO upon customer order, it can be charged from 0 to 100% SoC for 4 min, and from 0 to 80% SoC for 3.2 min.
Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS):
ALIENO ARCANUM possesses multiple innovative ALIENO ADAS systems (Advanced driver-assistance systems), the main one of which is called ALIENO Artificial Intelligence (AAI) or “The Alien” (TA). In reality the car is an “alien” (“alien robot”, “intelligent robot on wheels”), who assists the driver, prevents him from making mistakes and teaches him how to improve his driving skills, habits and style, with the sole purpose of being able to explore and use the full potential of the car.
ARCANUM has a number of specialized sensors and performs continuous real-time diagnostic and exploration, not only of the external environment that surrounds it and the interior environment of the car, but also of all its systems, making its own self-diagnostic, in order to predict damages and dangerous situations, and dealing with emergency cases.
The ADAS systems of ARCANUM gather information from multiple sensors, which the car is equipped with, including 17 cameras, 1 LiDAR, 8 radars, 1 GPS sensor, 1 IMU sensor and a large number of other sensors.
ARCANUM has an ALIENO front stereo vision, consisting of a module with a 2 cameras and an 1 LiDAR, mounted from the inside behind the upper central part of the windshield. It has also an ALIENO rear stereo vision, consisting of 2 cameras, mounted at the top of the rear third stop-brake light of the car.
The vision of the car in all directions is complimented by ALIENO aerodynamic left and right side digital mirrors, each of which instead of a standard mirror is equipped with 5 cameras combined in aerodynamic detail. They are used also for a keyless access, through facial, iris and retina recognition, speech and fingerprint recognition, and allowing different levels of security to be set.
In addition, there are cameras and other sensors, which monitor the environment in the interior, the condition and the emotions of the driver and the passenger. They are used also for keyless starting of the car and diagnosing the state of both the driver and passenger.
Availability:
ALIENO manufactures ARCANUM only by customer pre-orders, which are already open for clients. Each of the cars is entirely assembled by hand by the team of ALIENO, but the components of the car are manufactured by hi-tech machines in the factory of ALIENO in Bulgaria, which is in a process of building and expansion.
Price:
ALIENO ARCANUM is available for pre-orders at the following base prices: 750 000 EUR for the RP2 version, 1 000 000 EUR for the RP3 version, 1 250 000 EUR for the RP4 version and 1 500 000 EUR for the RP5 version. The delivery time varies from 18 to 30 months, depending on the chosen modification (STR, TRC or RCE) and other options chosen by the customer.
