Seems the boys in Crewkerne have been burning the midnight oil of late. Not only are they pushing Atom 4 Rs out into the wild, pedalling electric bikes and ramping up for Nomad 2 production, they have also been spannering up a new Nomad variant, the E-Nomad.
In a hugely controversial move, the E-Nomad sports a roof. This no doubt reduces drag, but really, a roof? Do they think EV drivers are scared of getting wet? Reports say that the roof actually looks better in the flesh than it does in these press kit photos. With an A pillar roof line slightly reminiscent of a Mini Cooper Coupe or one of Lightning McQueen’s Car buddies, the E-Nomad oozes personality.
Made of natural fibres, the roof and body panels are made of flax, said to be chosen for excellent tensile strength and stiffness. The panels are reinforced by “Power Ribs” made from more bio-composite natural fibres – all very green indeed, and not just the colour!
So, its an EV – with 281bhp propelling 896kg. That’s 210kW and near instant peak torque of 490Nm, equating to the60 dash being despatched in a claimed 3.4 seconds. As we know, Ariel fuel gauges obey an entirely different set of physical laws, so we will have to wait to see if the range of 150miles is achievable if you drive it like Sideways Si would want you to. The e-Motor revs to 12,000rpm and the drive train features a limited slip diff as well as water cooling for the motor.
There’s some clever ‘Power Management’ to minimise low battery drain when the car is not in use and ABS, switchable driving modes (ECO – more regen and less power and Sport – full fat, all the beans) for when it is.
All in all, the Ariel mantra of SERIOUS FUN looks to have translated into SERIOUS CLEAN FUN in a very cool way. Hopefully the concept will make it into production alongside the Nomad2 (which it shares a chassis with). If you want that to happen, you know who to call!
