With development of Aston Martin’s first all-electric production car – the Rapide E – progressing apace, the luxury British marque has confirmed a raft of technical details for the strictly limited 155-unit special edition vehicle, with customer deliveries set for Q4 2019.

The Rapide E will be powered by an 800V battery electrical architecture with 65kWh installed capacity using over 5600 lithium ion 18650 format cylindrical cells. These are mounted in a bespoke battery pack where normally the engine, gearbox and fuel tank would be located. This battery system powers two rear mounted electric motors producing a combined target output of just over 610PS (450kW) and a colossal 950Nm of torque making it the most powerful Rapide model.

Xtrac are proud to have been chosen as the transmission supplier for this prestigious vehicle which will be built at the upcoming St. Athan production facility, announced as the future ‘Home of Electrification’ for both the Aston Martin and Lagonda brands.

Speaking at the Cenex LCV (Low Carbon Vehicle) conference held at Millbrook on September 12-13, Xtrac CEO Adrian Moore, said “Being selected as the official transmission supplier for the Rapide E by Aston Martin, underlines the advancements we have made in developing ILEV’s (Integrated lightweight Electric Vehicle transmissions) and we are really excited to be part of such a prestigious project.”

Moore continued to say “Our bespoke P1289 transmission, used in the Rapide E, is a descendant of our revolutionary P1227 ILEV launched in 2016 which has already been used in several high performance automotive applications. The transmission is a single speed 3 shaft configuration with an integrated park-brake and a high performance motorsport limited slip differential.  It is highly integrated into the vehicle and we have worked incredibly closely with the vehicle design team and Integral Powertrain, the motor supplier, to ensure a lightweight, highly efficient and package optimised solution. Testing with the P1289 transmission is already well underway.  At Xtrac we are leading the way with high performance electric vehicle transmission design, and we are underway with a major investment programme including nearing completion of a 27,000 sq ft (2,510 sq m) factory extension with new gear manufacturing cells, a new assembly area, and additional test rigs in order to support this sector”

Whilst attending the LCV event, Adrian Moore made a presentation as part of the Automotive Council Technology Group. The title and content of his presentation was “UK Automotive already benefits from Motorsport Valley’s Innovation – hear how this can be accelerated to meet new powertrain challenges on time”.

Along with Xtrac, other high profile motorsport suppliers such as Williams Advanced Engineering and Integral Powertrain have been selected for the Rapide E, highlighting the significant role that the British motorsport industry plays in developing tomorrows highly efficient road cars.