New Aspark Owl is the world’s most powerful electric car

Electric cars are often pictured as funless buzz boxes that can’t hold a candle to conventional petrol cars. But the latest example will change how you look at zero emissions vehicles forever.

Little known Japanese supercar maker Aspark is about to make a big impact.

Aspark debuted the production version of the Owl — a ballistically fast, fully electric road racer — at the recent Dubai motor show.

The company claims the car can sprint from 0-100km/h in about 1.7 seconds, which is faster than pretty much anything legally allowed on the road. The Owl also has a top speed of 400km/h, which is extremely rare for electric cars.

The Aspark Owl electric hypercar is claimed to hit 100km/h in about 1.7 seconds.

Aspark achieves this feat thanks to four electric motors — one powering each wheel — that combined make an astonishing 1480kW and 2000Nm. That is more than 10 times the outputs of Australia’s best selling passenger car, the Toyota Corolla.

And because electric motors produce peak torque the instant they start turning, unlike petrol or diesel engines, the acceleration is prodigious.

Aspark also claims range of 450km, thanks to a large 64kWh battery that takes 80 minutes to reach full capacity via a fast charger.

The Owl has head-turning falcon-wing doors.

Another quirk of the Owl is its height, or lack of — it is just 99.3cm or 38 inches from ground to roof. Its aerodynamic curves and rear wing provide masses of downforce to help keep the car planted at speed.

Among the Owl’s wow features are the carbon-fibre structure to keep the weight down and the impressive look-at-me falcon-wing doors.

The Owl is powered by four electric motors.

There isn’t much safety kit beyond anti-lock brakes, traction control and stability control — emergency braking doesn’t tend to work at extreme speeds and blind spots quickly disappear.

Unlike other extreme machines, the Owl comes with creature comforts including airconditioning, rear view camera and four info displays.

The 50L of luggage space will accommodate a small cabin bag.

The car will be built in Italy and will cost 2.9 million euros ($4.7m), bringing it close to $7m in Australia after taxes. The first examples to be delivered in the second quarter of next year.

The Owl is extremely low to the ground and has lots of aerodynamic features to provide downforce and keep it stable at high speeds.

If that sounds your speed, best hurry. Aspark will build only 50 examples of the Owl and you’ll need to put down a 50,000 euro deposit.

Among other road rockets in development are the Aston Martin Valkyrie and Mercedes-Benz ONE. Due to start production soon, each draws on the respective maker’s F1 pedigree and employs hybrid technology and aerodynamic designs developed from competing in top-flight motor sport.