Rimac Concept Two packing a 120-kWh battery and Level 4 autonomy

Autocar reports that Rimac, the Croatian electric hypercar maker, has moved the goalposts for its coming Concept Two. Apparently, after hearing Tesla CEO Elon Musk quote specs for the 2020 Tesla Roadster of 0-100 km/hour in 1.9 seconds and a 2400 km/h top speed, Rimac went back to its electric cauldron so it could add more Eye of Newt to the Concept Two. However, we didn't know the Rimac's claimed performance specs previously, and Autocar didn't mention how far Rimac had pushed them.

What we do know is that the Concept Two will get a 120-kWh battery. That's a fair bit less than the 200-kWh battery in the coming Tesla Roadster, but a healthy leap beyond the 82-kWh battery in Concept One. The Concept One, with two electric motors at the front axle pumping a combined 671 horsepower, plus two electric motors at the rear good for 804 hp, could do 0-100 in 2.5 seconds, had a claimed top speed of 355 km/h, and lasted 330 km on a charge. The Concept Two should beat all of those numbers handily, as promised, but we're guessing it will still be a few tenths behind the Tesla.

The other treat coming in the necktie-inspired coupe is Level 4 Autonomy. The SAE describes Level 4 as "High Automation," different than the "Full Automation" of Level 5. In Level 4, the vehicle is designed to drive itself and not need any human intervention because the vehicle provides its own emergency fallbacks, but only in specific driving scenarios. Think of Level 4 as part-time Level 5. It'll be neat to see how Rimac pulls that off, though - or where the Concept Two is programmed to allow Level 4 driving - since no other carmaker offers Level 4 autonomy yet. They could mean, a la Tesla, they're installing the software that will make the Concept Two capable of Level 4 autonomy one day. We'll find out at the Geneva Motor Show next month.