Ariel
The low-volume British carmaker Ariel got its start with a reimagining of the iconic Lotus Seven, gaining something of a reputation for building the car that filled Jeremy Clarkson’s epiglottis full of bees on Top Gear, back when that was the most-torrented TV show on the Internet. Then it expanded its lineup with the Nomad, which added off-road ground ability to the mix, creating a car that starred on The Grand Tour as well as in the last few iterations of Forza Horizon. Today, Ariel unveiled its idea for an all-electric take on that go-anywhere car with the E-Nomad.
Ariel says the E-Nomad can match the more than respectable acceleration of its gas-powered car, which means 0–60 mph (98 km/h) in 3.4 seconds despite wearing nobbly all-terrain tires. But rapidly accelerating electric vehicles aren’t anything special. What does stand out is the E-Nomad’s relative lack of mass—it tips the scales at just 1,975 lbs (896 kg), less than half as much as most of the EVs on sale today.
The E-Nomad’s 41 kWh battery pack lives behind the cabin, replacing the internal combustion engine and fuel tank you’d find on the regular car. Ariel sourced it from Rockfort Engineering and says the pouch cells offer “best-in-class energy density.” In total, the battery pack weighs less than 660 lbs (300 kg) and can send up to 281 hp (210 kW) to the drive unit at the rear. The drive has a peak torque output of 361 lb-ft (490 Nm) and is optimized for mass, weighing 202 lbs (92 kg).
Aerodynamic efficiency is probably the most important factor affecting EV range, and the E-Nomad is a little more optimized than the normal Nomad, with more covered bodywork and fewer open gaps between the bars of the spaceframe chassis, amounting to a 30 percent reduction in drag. That said, it’s still a rather draggy shape, so range is just a quoted 150 miles (240 km).
Sustainable manufacturing
Since a goal for the E-Nomad project was to explore more sustainable methods of low-volume car manufacturing, swapping the brand’s philosophy of “serious fun” for “seriously clean fun,” Ariel has used a flax-based composite material from Bamd Composites with a much lower carbon footprint than regular carbon fiber. Often, substituting a natural composite comes with a weight penalty due to lower stiffness, but Ariel says that in this case, the resulting panels are nine percent lighter than they would be with a conventional composite.
Ariel also cut in half the carbon footprint of the tooling for the panels, saving more than 11,000 lbs (5,000 kg) of carbon emissions in the process. Both bodywork and tooling are also recyclable.
There are some new features for the driver, too. Ariel has developed a new antilock braking system with selectable on- and off-road modes, and since this is an EV, there’s also a one-pedal driving mode and even an eco mode, which reduces power and torque in favor of more range.
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Most of the improvement in drag comes from the E-Nomad’s fully covered roof.
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The two aerials on the roof make the Ariel look like an RC car.
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A cutaway illustration of the Ariel E-Nomad powertrain.
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The flax composite is better for the environment than regular carbon fiber.
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A look at the “power rib” reinforcement on the back of the flax composite panels.
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Although the E-Nomad is just a concept for now, the company will definitely use customer interest to gauge whether to build a production version.
While the E-Nomad is a concept, it does show production intent for the vehicle and hints at just a small part of Ariel’s future. Once it has been through our usual grueling testing regime, we could opt to add E-Nomad alongside its ICE Nomad 2 sibling, so we’ll take great interest in customer feedback on the concept car,” said Ariel director Simon Saunders.
Meanwhile, development continues on the company’s other EV, a 1,180 hp (880 kW) coupe called the “Hipercar.” It was first revealed in 2017, and work continues on the prototype, with a production version possibly appearing next year.
