Haitian-born entrepreneur and entertainer Wyclef Jean, best known for his hip hop musical forays both solo and with The Fugees, has launched a new automotive company. The first machine Wycliffe unveiled to the public in Amelia, Florida, and to his 2.2 million followers on Instagram, is called the Attax Apex AP0 electric supercar.
Now that you’ve seen the car and heard the rap, let’s take a closer look at what makes the Attax Apex AP0 so cool, starting with the name. The company name comes from Crispus Attucks, a black man who was killed by British troops in the Boston Massacre, which is known as the start of the American Revolutionary War. By the numbers, the AP0 has a claimed top speed of 190 mph and is reportedly capable of going 0-60 in 2.3 seconds. Power comes from an electric motor at the rear that produces 650 horsepower and 580 Nm (428 lb-ft) of torque. Power comes from a 90 kWh lithium-ion battery pack of unknown origin. While there are plenty of electric cars with much more powerful motors, the AP0’s performance claims are bolstered by a weight of 1,200 kg (less than 2,650 lb), which is “made possible by a monocoque carbon chassis, a modular spaceframe and a With central spine for maximum stiffness.” The price is somewhat shocking, but in a world of multimillion-dollar supercars, it has a comparatively bargain asking price of $350,000.
Attax claims the Apex AP0 is the lightest electric supercar in existence. It definitely looks smaller comparatively in the pictures. To put its claimed weight into perspective, the Rimac Navara weighs 4,740 pounds—more than double the Apex AP0—and gets its motive force from a 1,914-hp electric drivetrain fed by a 120-kWh battery pack . Even the Lotus Evija, from a company historically concerned with weight, comes in at around 3,700 pounds. Of course, the Navara and Eviza also cost a few million dollars more. We’re not sure how Attax was able to stealthily engineer such a lightweight electric supercar or how it was able to sell such a machine for such a comparatively reasonable amount, but we’re certainly curious to find out more .
According to the press release announcing this new venture, “Attucks is a platform to create voices and dreams in the future and technology community, headquartered in Little Haiti, Miami.” It continues, “The platform will be responsible for discovering, nurturing and developing technology starting with invention, technical solutions, sustainability, creativity and design, coding and Web 3.” We’re not sure how the company’s platform will translate into future products like the AP0, so as we said in the previous paragraph, we’ll definitely keep watching.
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