Rimac Automobili is continuing its crash-test programme for the all-electric C_Two hypercar ahead of global homologation tests and start of production in 2021.
Since it was first showcased at the Geneva Motor Show in 2018, Rimac Automobili’s engineers – part of a team of more than 800 in Sveta Nedelja, Croatia – have been making the C_Two a production reality, delivering on every promise of its performance using technology and designs produced almost entirely in-house. Ahead of the 2021 production, the C_Two is undergoing an intense testing program, part of which is crash testing mutiple prototypes.
In this second round of crash testing, including the highly demanding 56km/h 40% offset deformable barrier impact test, the C_Two prototype proved to be extremely safe. There was no damage to the monocoque, meaning there was next-to-no deforming of the cabin, intrusion of the pedals or excessive forces exerted onto the driver and passenger.
The crash testing program started in 2019, after years of simulation, at first on a material and then component level. An initial series of physical crash tests on a full vehicle level was also completed last year – each element of the car had been designed by the team in Croatia to maximize the amount of energy absorbed by the crash structure and not by the cabin or carbon tub. This latest full-vehicle physical testing – necessary to finalize the behaviour of the carbon composite during an impact – is a confirmation of the virtual modelling.
In total, Rimac Automobili will produce 13 prototype vehicles and 5 pre-series production cars – 11 of these 18 will be destroyed during crash testing – to complete the worldwide homologation and testing process, allowing the final production car to be sold in every single market around the globe.
