The recent premiere of HBO’s “House of the Dragon” series coincided with the launch of a new, more powerful version of the Lucid Air. called “Sapphire”, that vehicle promises more than 1200 hp and a time of less than 9.0 second quarter mile, fresh out of the box. That’s fast – but the combination of the two news items reminded me of another hot, fast EV… this one, with a slightly more “draconian” name than the Sapphire.
It’s called the Drako GTE, and it’s so ridiculously, insanely powerful that the spec sheet sounds more like a nitromethane-fueled fever dream.
All your racetracks are from Drako
Image courtesy of Drake Motors.
If you’ve never heard of the Drako GTE, you’re forgiven. We’ve never shown it in CleanTechnica, and most people – even some of the most dedicated “car people” – have never heard of it, but they miss it. That’s because the four-engine, 1200-horsepower Drako GTE is not only the most powerful electric vehicle you can buy today, but also the most powerful vehicle you can buy, period… and it’s not the 1200 horsepower. It is the dazzling 6,491 Nm of earth-moving torque of the Drako.
Go back and read that again.
Yes. The Drako GTE simply cannot be compared. Even other “fast” cars like the Tesla Model S Plain (905 lb-ft) or Lucid Air Dream Edition (737 lb-ft), or even the $3 million, quad-turbo Bugatti Chiron (1180 lb-ft) only seems like a toy in the presence of the GTE — and it’s 100% real, barely manageable by a sophisticated, torque-vector traction control system dubbed “the Drako DriveOS”.
Moreover, it is not even the only Drako.
Drako Dragon electric crossover
Image courtesy of Drake Motors.
Drake first teased the upcoming Dragon SUV last month, and we know very little about its specs – other than that it has gull-wing doors (obviously), rides slightly higher than the GTE (again, obviously), and that it’s will probably happen to be just as powerful as its slimmer sibling.
Why? From the official press release: “While some automakers tout the straight-line speed of their vehicles with movie punches, Drako needs no tricks for the Dragon: Top speed is over 200 mph, it runs the quarter mile in 9.0 seconds, and it hits 60 mph in 1.9 seconds.Dragon takes this performance from the DriveOS Quad Motor Powertrain, internal battery system and nanosecond-precise control of the Drako DriveOS vehicle architecture, which combines the ultimate in handling and performance with next-generation technology and luxury functions.”
Power is luxury, but so is luxury
Image courtesy of Drake Motors.
We’ve previously debated what passes for “luxury” in the CleanTech Round Talk podcasts, but it’s worth noting that different automakers have very different ideas about what their high-end customers want. Tesla seems to think they want steering yokes, virtual controls and iPad-like interfaces. At Mercedes-Benz, the EQS team decided their affluent buyers wanted screens. Big, wild looking screens. Bentley is still doing it with wood and leather, while Volvo and Polestar are pushing for recycled ocean plastic and other vegan or plant-based materials.
Drako hasn’t shown us their idea of luxury yet, but when it comes to a more “mainstream” electric SUV (the GTE has always been, admittedly, more of a proof-of-concept type hypercar to demonstrate the company’s technical prowess to prove) . However, based on the press release, we can still guess. Likewise,” it reads, “the cab is wrapped in Europe’s finest, most luxurious leather, exuding luxury and comfort, with a unique layout and easy entry and exit. But the 5-seat cab not only looks great and feels great, it has been designed without compromising on functionality and offers world-class passenger comfort and space and ample luggage capacity, alongside unparalleled luxury and performance.”
We’ll all have to wait and see what the dragon brand has in store for us. In the meantime, you can check out this video, of the 2019 launch of the Drako, then let us know what you think of this big bad electric dragon in the comments at the bottom of the page.
Introducing Drako GTE
Source | Pictures: Draco Motors.
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