When most people think of electric cars, they probably picture futurist-looking things with dashboards full of buttons and screens. The Olympian Model 01 takes a very different approach, with a classic design and a minimalist interior.
Manufactured by New York-based Olympian Motors, the Model 01 is a four-door, four-passenger, rear-wheel-drive electric sedan, sporting a military-grade carbon fiber and titanium body set atop a Super Board "skateboard chassis" made by Chinese electric mobility company U Power Tech.
The car's 310-hp (228-kW) motor delivers 305 lb ft (414 Nm) of torque, taking the vehicle from 0 to 60 mph (97 km/h) in a claimed 5.7 seconds.
It reportedly has a top speed of a whopping 160 mph (257 km/h) – that said, assuming the Model 01 isn't being driven quite that fast, one charge of its 400V/82-kWh lithium-ion battery pack should be good for a range of approximately 305 miles (491 km).
Carrying the whole classic-car thing inside, the vehicle's cabin features "sustainably and responsibly sourced" materials such as exotic woods, steel, cashmere and silk.
What it doesn't feature, however, is much in the way of buttons, switches or screens. Olympian states that 80% of these have been replaced with a combination of a HUD display on the windshield and a voice-command system, the latter of which is used to control the infotainment system, heating/air conditioning, seat adjustment, lighting and other functions.
Safety features include up to nine airbags along with laminated glass in all the windows and the roof canopy.
Olympian Motors is now accepting refundable $500 deposits – from prospective buyers in the US, Canada and China – on an initial Founders Edition of the Model 01, the total price of which will be US$80,000. We're told that test-drive events in various American cities will start in April, and that first deliveries of the Founders Edition should follow in May.
In the meantime, you can see the vehicle in action, in the video below.
The company is also building a retro-futuristic open-top EV called the Model 84, which we'll feature in an upcoming article.
Source: Olympian Motors
