Subaru's new 800kW EV concept aims to break the Nurburgring lap record

Revealed at the 2022 Tokyo Auto Salon, was the Subaru STI E-Ra concept. 

It's been pitted as a contender for the Nurburgring lap record, the E-Ra in it's name standing for "Electric-Record-Attempt." 

The goal for Subaru's new "near-future" electric hypercar, is to "record a lap time of 400 seconds (6 minutes 40 seconds) in a time attack at the Nurburgring circuit." It plans to achieve this from 2023 onwards, after doing a few test runs and experiments over various circuits in Japan in 2022.

Powering the STI E-Ra concept is what's called "all-wheel control technology," a proprietary four-motor, four-wheel torque vectoring system. The aim of the system is to equalise the grip level across the four wheels, which stabilises the car and maximises "the pleasure of driving." It'll apparently also calculate the signals sent from the wheel sensors to instruct the driver how much drive or braking torque to apply. It considers things like vehicle speed, the steering angle, G force, yaw rate, brake pressure, wheel speed and wheel load.

The car pumps out 800kW, with a lithium-ion battery that has a capacity of 60kWh. Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. will be producing the motor, which will be high-torque, high-revolution, with integrated inverter and gear developed specifically for hyper EVs. Apparently, the four electric motors will be attached directly to each wheel, resulting in better responsiveness when driving. 

The current record holder for street-legal Nurburgring lap is the Porsche GT2 RS equipped with a Manthey Performance Kit. In June last year, the vehicle set a record with a time of 6:43.30. Subaru aims to shave 3.3 seconds off this record. But even if it's successful, it'll still be a way off the all-time electric record, which is held currently by the VW ID.R race car from Pikes Peak, which set a lap time of 6:05.33 back in 2019.

Subaru went on to mention that it's racing division, STI, will continue to strive in motorsports and the development of projects for the future electrified society.