McLaren remains interested in creating an all-electric supercar but doesn’t seem in a rush to bring such a model to the market.
The British manufacturer revealed its intention for an electric model in the Track22 business plan it announced in March 2016. However, during a recent interview with Autocar, McLaren’s executive director for programme development, Mark Vinnels, indicated that batteries need to be developed further.
“Suppliers in the battery industry are working flat out to improve the energy density of their batteries, while what we want are batteries with better power density. One promotes range, the other performance, and the more power density you have, the bigger the issues with cooling the battery pack,” he said.
In September last year, McLaren Applied Technologies won a bid to be the exclusive battery supplier for the Formula E Championship for the 2018/19 and 2019/2020 seasons. This will force the company to accelerate its research and development of class-leading batteries and will almost certainly create technologies which will be used in future McLaren road cars.
Under Track22, at least 50 per cent of all McLarens will incorporate some form of electrification by 2022. Company insiders suggested that the pinnacle of this plan would be the release of an all-electric supercar to slot into the marque’s Ultimate Series but based on Vinnels latest comments, such a car could be further away than initially expected.
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