Give Performance EVs a Chance

I see you, Instagram commenters. Whenever I read something on a Motor1 post like, "Abomination," and "Nobody wants this," it makes me smirk—especially when we're talking about the quickest and most powerful Porsche ever built. My favorite line: "Even if vegan cars have 2,000 horsepower they are still trash." Chef's kiss.

It's fair to be skeptical of electric vehicles, especially since the push for mass electrification has dragged on for years. And most certainly, those are fair criticisms to lob at appliances like the Volkswagen ID.4 and Nissan Ariya—electric crossovers that truly do nothing to separate themselves from the swathes of better gas alternatives, other than "battery."

But when those insults are directed at a 1,092-hp Porsche that gets to 60 mph in 2.1 seconds—what are we even doing here?

Part of the problem comes down to exposure, or lack thereof. It’s easier to say an EV sucks when the only one you've experienced firsthand in is an eight-year-old Nissan Leaf. If someone handed you an iPhone 7 in 2024, you’d say the same thing.

Technology evolves rapidly, and modern EVs have come a long way in a short time. The current market has so many awe-inspiring and soul-stirring electric vehicles that you'd be shocked (pun intended).

Take the Rimac Nevera. Two years ago I spent a glorious 30 minutes behind the wheel of what is still the quickest production car in the world. No, the batteries don’t roar to life like the W-16 in the Chiron, nor does an electric powertrain offer the same delectable character as a 911 GT3’s flat-six at 9,000 rpm. The Rimac does other things spectacularly.

The Nevera launches to 60 quicker than the mind can comprehend. No gas engine in the world delivers the same wallop of torque. And a clever torque vectoring system sends the exact amount of twist to each wheel, adjusting that amount at a rate of 100 times per second, so you can go full speed into a turn and the Nevera knows exactly how much twist you need to maximize exit speeds. Try that in a Bugatti and see what happens.

The Nevera is a technological marvel. It’s the amalgamation of my wildest childhood automotive fantasies come to life. Nineteen hundred horsepower packed into a