Seemingly nothing is off limits in the world of EV conversions. Everrati’s been shoving batteries and electric motors into classics for many years now, most recently gutting a 964 Porsche 911 of its flat-six and slotting in a rear-mounted, 500hp EV unit in its place. Elsewhere, there are electric conversion kits for Ferrari Testarossas, Jaguar E-Types, old Land Rovers, Minis, you name it. No matter how precious the donor car there will be someone out there with enough money (and stones the size of Sisyphus’s boulder) to make an EV out of it.
Whether you agree with it or not, there are several rationales for subjecting something classic-shaped to a transplant. Less logical is the morbid curiosity - I could never personally do that to a car both out of respect to its heritage and a fear of being put on some kind of PH hit list - but it’s vaguely intriguing to see an EV enthusiast bring something different to the table. Especially if it's something track-focused, like the remarkable Ultima ‘RSE’ we have for sale here.
Now, this probably won’t incite a mass riot in the same way a classic 911 EV conversion might, but it’s still a huge departure from what you might call a ‘normal’ Ultima. Though a kit car of sorts (meaning the assembler can theoretically shove whatever engine they like with the right know-how; hence why Gordon Murray used them to develop V12s for the McLaren F1 and GMA T.50), they’re typically offered with some sort of Chevy V8 for maximum bang-for-buck performance. For the Ultima RS, which this EV is based on, that would have been either an LS or LT V8 with up to 1,200hp (and a heck of a lot of noise) under your right foot.
Admittedly, the RSE can’t match the power nor the volume of the top-line RS, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t give it a run for its money. It’s powered by a Tesla ‘Large Drive Unit’ (or LDU) with custom twin cooling loops and numerous software tweaks for a total output of 680hp. Off the line, it’ll hit 60mph in just 2.1 seconds, 100mph in 4.6 seconds and then get back to a standstill in 3.1 seconds. And it’s not that heavy, either. Despite carrying around a chunky electric motor and a 24kWh battery (which is supposedly good for 100 miles on a single charge), the RSE tips the scales at 988kg - only 58kg more than the RS.
The RSE, however, hasn’t been cobbled together by a man in a shed. Nope, it’s a factory-backed prototype built by engineering outfit PES Design And Developments and Ultima specialist Steve Smith. So it’s been put together with serious diligence, then, with some top-draw hardware under its carbon skin such as Nitron dampers and heavy-duty AP Racing brakes. The wheels are a touch wider than the standard RS to help manage the electric motor’s near-instant torque, and there’s even more carbon aero appendages to keep it planted at high speed. So grippy is the RSE that the seller claims none of the performance test were run with traction control or any fancy torque-vectoring tech - just good old-fashioned mechanical bite.
Only one prototype was built, with Ultima pulling the plug on the RSE when several key markets relaxed EV mandates for small-scale manufacturers. It is, however, a fully functional, one-of-a-kind electric hypercar in need of a new home. All you’ll need is a spare £159,500 and, ideally, somewhere to charge it up, which’ll be significantly cheaper than filling it up with super unleaded over and over again. We’re talking about Rimac Nevera levels of performance here at a discount of many millions. It’s that giant-slaying performance, and not a V8, that makes the RSE as true an Ultima as any.
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