Could this be the world’s first fully-electric Hypercar?
Meet the Dendrobium, an ambitious nature-inspired two-seat EV from Singapore
Singapore-based electrics firm Vanda has used the Geneva motor show to pull the wraps off what it claims is the world’s first fully-electric hypercar, the Dendrobium. Yeah, try saying that quickly after a few shandies. Currently a slow-rolling design concept, this nature-inspired two-seat EV is being co-developed with Williams Advanced Engineering with a hope to bring it into production in the next two years.
First previewed in an 8-Bit-esque video a few months ago, the radical two-seat all-electric concept wants to sniff out other hypercars with a top speed in excess of 200mph and 0-60mph in 2.7 seconds. That first stat is impressive – and difficult to achieve – for an EV, while the second isn’t exactly hypercarish given a seven-seat EV family can already better it. Supercar, yes. Hypercar, no. Possible? Err, maybe.
Like the upcoming AMG hypercar and Aston Martin Valkyrie – both utilising the expertise of F1 firms to make barely-believable performance believable – Vanda, a small (as in 20 employees small) electrics firm has done the same by roping in Williams (another firm with F1-nous) to co-develop the car and get its head round the drive-y bits but also give this ambitious project a sliver of credibility by proxy.
However, unlike Aston Martin and AMG, Vanda does not have decades of road car experience and a proven portfolio of rip-snorting road cars to build from. Instead, it has a small electric truck with a 62-mile range called the Ant, and a 37-mile all EV monkey bike called the Motochimp. Combined top speed of both? Less than 30mph. We have a feeling there could be some late nights ahead in Camp Vanda.
The Dendrobium is named after the native Singaporean flower and its design has been inspired by it too. To get in, both the doors and roof bloom out and up suicide style to expose the cockpit, making it easier for the taller amongst you. The buttressed open-wheel design is further inspired by nature, with the body tapering into something resembling a wasp’s behind, and features wheels designed to look like roots of a tree, many honeycomb details and plenty of exposed space to mimic peaks and valleys of landscapes. Meanwhile, the front lights are meant to look like waterfalls, and there’s a glowing rear charging point. The mismatching seat design is also meant to remind you of human muscles. Design bingo, you’ll agree.
We’re told the design was actually conceived in the nineties but has only been possible now due to advancements in technology. Only, we haven’t yet been told what those technologies are. Nor who designed it. Or who is financing it. Or how it’ll reach production. And how much it’ll cost.
What we do know is the body is full carbon with a monocoque built onto two subframes. There’s push-rod suspension all round and it has a target weight of 1,750kg. The batteries (no size yet) would be housed low behind the driver, while two motors at the front and two at the rear (again, size not yet specified) would power all four wheels through direct drive. The eternal battle between the design department and engineering rages on with this project. Even so, Williams has used its skills to provide a functional aerodynamic floor, rear double diffuser and floating spoiler as well as increasing the size of the car to make it more stable.
Now, in the past, there have been plenty of small companies with big statements about performance, but never got further than a press release and photoshop render. So the fact that Vanda has gone to the effort of building a car with a high-profile engineering partner like Williams Advanced Engineering, shows it is serious. But making a hypercar isn’t easy. And it’s very, very expensive. So trying to accomplish the world’s first all-electric hypercar, while breaking many new boundaries in less than two years with as-yet unidentified tech has us reaching for a pinch of salt on this one.
Could it just be vapourware with a snazzy F1 name attached to it? Possibly. But we’re more than happy to be proven wrong.
The 1,800bhp Dendrobium D1 electric hypercar will cost £1.2m
Electric hypercars are all the rage these days. Pininfarina’s doing one. So is Rimac. Ariel is doing something along the same lines, Tesla has yet to reveal its full hand and Lotus is cooking up something special.
Enter then, the Dendrobium D1, shown off to over 300,000 enthusiastic race fans at last weekend’s Le Mans 24-hour race. What is an Dendrobium D1? It is – or it will be – a fully electric hypercar that’ll set you back just over a million quid, perhaps a tad more for a limited series of ‘First Edition’ cars.
For that, you get ballistic horsepower and speed. The technology powering the D1 – and by that we mean the batteries – is still being finalised, but we know the car will feature a full carbon body with a monocoque, built over two subframes. There’ll be a couple of motors on each axle, and lots of aero.
The target weight is 1,750kg, because batteries are heavy of course. There’ll be no shortage of speed, Dendrobium targeting 0-62mph in 2.7secs and a top speed of over 200mph.
Why a million quid, then? TopGear.com spoke to Dendrobium boss Nigel Gordon-Stewart who said: “There’s a dramatic overpricing that’s taking place in a lot of cars. I think it’s good for establishing a premium value, but for me, our price point came in terms of it being as comfortable as it needed to go.
“When I was selling McLaren F1s, it was £540,000 plus tax, so it was a million dollars [back then]. I think a million is really where it needs to be.
“The McLaren P1 was under a million. Porsche’s 918 too. LaFerrari was about the same. I think to me, that’s it,” he added.
Speaking of that fabled F1, Gordon-Stewart was part of the original team that helped birth the McLaren F1. “It was almost like we were the Blues Brothers,” he tells us. “You know, somebody sat there and said, ‘let’s put the old band back together again’. And it did feel a bit like that, but, if I could recreate the atmosphere that we had when we did the McLaren F1, it would be absolutely astonishing, because it was such a fertile, creative opportunity.”
The ‘band’ then, has got some of its key members back. “Peter Stevens is retained on the design side of things,” he tells TG, “and anybody else he cares to nominate. I’m using Steve Randall – Steve used to work with McLaren and on the F1 and was responsible for all the suspension, chassis, brakes and various other set-ups.
“There’s a couple of other people who I can’t tell you who they are, but used to work on the McLaren F1, who are currently working for other companies and want to join us as soon as we’re good to go,” he said.
And when is that likely to be, TG pondered? “There’s a little problem that begins with a B and ends in T,” he said. Yup, Brexit. “That is causing us an enormous problem. So many investors have said to us that they’re keen, but need some resolution one way or another.”
There’s also the problem with the technology, too. Most notably the shift towards solid-state batteries. “I’m keen to make sure that when we put a stick in the ground, the car is as advanced as possible. Because a lot of companies are designing battery systems into their chassis, which means they’re then married to that technology for whatever period of time.
“We’ve designed the car in a way that the current battery can be interchanged. So as the tech evolves, it kind of fits into the same space,” he added.
Gordon-Stewart is hoping to have a driveable prototype by next year. Something that’ll give an idea of what the performance is going to be like. “It’s not going to be a completed car,” he tells us, “it’ll be basically a skateboard. A chassis with a drivetrain, steering wheel, a seat, some pedals… But it’ll be enough to scare you.”
The final thing looks like it’ll be ready in 2022, fingers crossed, with plans to be able to build 50 cars per year. Watch this space.