Pagani is developing an EV but says batteries remain too heavy
Like many of its peers and rivals, Pagani has spent the past couple of years experimenting with electric technology. While the project is ongoing, the Italian company explained that it likely won’t launch an EV in the near future because battery technology remains far too heavy.
“Our goal is to create something that has to be lightweight. Looking at Pagani, what you see that is common with all the vehicles that we produce, they have to be lightweight,” said Christopher Pagani, the son of company founder Horacio Pagani, in an interview with Top Gear.
He added that the brand’s EV project started in 2018, and “there is no need for us to stop that,” but weight remains the biggest hurdle. “So, probably, nowadays with the existing technology we cannot create the Pagani the way that we would like to do,” he clarified. His comments echo those made by his father in 2022. At the time, Horacio Pagani also noted that his team has “never found interest in the supercar market for an EV” and added that forcing small carmakers to go electric doesn’t make sense when “90% of energy is produced in a bad way.”
Electric technology has improved in the past decade, but Pagani explained that delivering the level of performance its customers want would require building a car with a 1,300-plus-pound battery pack. For context, the V12-powered Utopia (pictured) has a dry weight of about 2,822 pounds while the electric Lotus Evija weighs around 3,700 pounds. The EV is quicker, but there’s more to a supercar than flat-out speed.
Pagani plans to continue using a Mercedes-Benz-sourced V12 engine modified in-house for the foreseeable future. Interestingly, the brand revealed that Mercedes-AMG floated the idea of using a V8-electric hybrid drivetrain during the Utopia’s development process. Pagani held its ground and launched the car with a big V12. “We, let’s say, ‘challenged them’ to keep the V12 and they accepted,” the company said.
What’s next depends largely on regulations in various markets. “We know that for small manufacturers can have [the V12] at least until 2035. But, we’re not afraid of approaching another powertrain in the future. We just have to know what the rules are,” Pagani told Top Gear.
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