Rimac – what’s all the fuss about?

Electric vehicle startups are a dime a dozen at the moment. The success of Tesla – and its sky-high stock price – has helped drive interest in other EV companies as investors look for the next unicorn to finance. While companies such as Lucid and Faraday Future have shown off impressive concepts and generated some investor interest, neither has successfully raised funding from established automakers. However, a small Croatian outfit named Rimac is bucking this trend.

In its history, Rimac has only built two ultra-low-volume models – the Concept One and the C_Two – both extremely powerful battery-electric hypercars, with vast price tags to match. In fact, many petrolheads have only heard of Rimac thanks to one of its models being involved in a dramatic crash while Richard Hammond was driving it for Amazon Prime's The Grand Tour.

Rimac says the C_Two, limited to just 150 units, will be available in the 'world's key markets via Rimac Automobili's global network of dealer partners'.

On its own, a small-scale electric hypercar maker wouldn't be enough to generate interest among traditional carmakers because they are busy trying to work out how to build vast fleets of electric vehicles profitably – a very different challenge to building a small handful of extremely powerful and expensive hypercars. However, Rimac has already secured investment from Porsche in return for 15.5% of its business in a relationship that began in 2018.

Porsche has recently further increased its investment in Rimac Automobili expanding its stake in the business to 24% with an additional EUR70m.

So, what makes Rimac so much more attractive as a partner to established, traditional automakers than the myriad other EV startups that are also competing for attention and funding?

Rimac has also focused a lot of its energy on designing components for electric vehicles which can then be sold on to other automakers.

According to founder Mate Rimac, "Supercars have a limited market, [but] the market for components is much bigger. That is why we are planning to expand our company". In other words, Rimac has also focused a lot of its energy on designing components for electric vehicles which can then be sold on to other automakers. Traditional automakers have great strength in building combustion-powered vehicles, but the switch to electrification demands different skills and capabilities that cost a lot of money to develop and nurture. Licensing ready-made parts from Rimac allows automakers such as Porsche to leapfrog ahead in the rapidly developing field of electrified vehicles without wasting its own R&D time or resources.

Already, Rimac has proved its mettle through its development work for existing automakers. The high-performance battery systems for both the Koenigsegg Regera hypercar and the concept Aston Martin Valkyrie were both developed by Rimac. In a video on the company's YouTube channel, Mate Rimac gave an example of one of the company's breakthroughs in battery pack design. The C_Two uses the same 2170 format cylindrical cells found in Tesla Model 3 and Model Y battery packs, but Rimac realised that it could cut down on pack weight and bulk by restricting the cooling system to only contacting the tops and bottoms of the battery cells. This would provide sufficient cooling performance without the added bulk needed to run coolant lines around the sides of the battery cells, thus increasing the pack's energy density.

In addition to Porsche, Rimac has already signed an agreement to supply Automobili Pininfarina – the automaking division of the storied Italian design house – with components and a platform on which it will build its own electric hypercar. This could be indicative of future EV supply agreements that call back to the days of coachbuilding where a manufacturer such as Rimac builds the vehicle's hardware, upon which a coachbuilding company such as Pininfarina then applies its own exterior and interior design.

Rumours suggest that, if a deal to further expand Porsche's stake in Rimac to around 50% goes ahead, ownership over the Bugatti brand will be included in the deal. Currently, the ultra-exclusive hypercar brand acts as a halo model for the wider VW Group but, with focus moving to electrification, there's a perception that Bugatti doesn't fit with the new sustainable image VW is trying to project in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal in 2015. Porsche's CEO Oliver Blume noted that Bugatti and Rimac would be a "good technological fit", suggesting that Bugatti's future models will probably adopt some of Rimac's electrification technology as they move away from combustion engines.

Main image: Rimac's C_Two electric hypercar

When looking at the new Muster 2.0 drill process in the context of Royal Caribbean’s digital transformation, it is a natural development for a company striving to reduce passenger friction on board.

“The innovative programme is the first of its kind and reimagines a process originally designed for larger groups of people into a faster, more personal approach that encourages higher levels of safety,” says Royal Caribbean’s vice president of sales Ben Bouldin for Europe Middle East and Africa.

Over the last few years reducing friction has been the focus of Royal Caribbean’s digital department and the goal of the Royal app, which, among other features, allows guests to avoid queues by finding out information and booking dinner tables, activities, excursions and shows online.

In 2018, at the launch of Symphony of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s senior vice president of digital Jay Schneider explained to Future Cruise that building guest products that “get people out of lines and let people enjoy their vacation first and foremost” has been one of his main missions.

Recently he said that: “Muster 2.0 represents a natural extension of our mission to improve our guests’ vacation experiences by removing points of friction.”

Schneider and Nick Weir, the senior vice president of entertainment at Royal Caribbean were instrumental to the development of Muster 2.0. Weir is behind some of the most original and innovative entertainment experiences guests can have at sea and has successfully mixed and transitioned formats and blended technology into traditional structures, such as turning an on-board ice rink into laser tag, back again into an ice show with synchronised drones and moving image effects such as those that transform the ice into an emotive Arctic whale scene.

“The safety drill has always put a pause on the cruise experience, and I felt like it could be more efficient,” explains Nick. When he was a cruise director he explains how he was responsible for the welcome party as well as drill announcements which always brought a halt to the fun as guests were starting to enjoy themselves.

“I happened to be outside on one hot, sweaty day during the drill, and I thought why not put it all on a device so it can be done individually and monitored? Technology naturally played a big part, location services on smartphones is essential, and a big team at Royal Caribbean came together to make it happen.”

When looking at the new Muster 2.0 drill process in the context of Royal Caribbean’s digital transformation, it is a natural development for a company striving to reduce passenger friction on board.

“The innovative programme is the first of its kind and reimagines a process originally designed for larger groups of people into a faster, more personal approach that encourages higher levels of safety,” says Royal Caribbean’s vice president of sales Ben Bouldin for Europe Middle East and Africa.

Over the last few years reducing friction has been the focus of Royal Caribbean’s digital department and the goal of the Royal app, which, among other features, allows guests to avoid queues by finding out information and booking dinner tables, activities, excursions and shows online.

In 2018, at the launch of Symphony of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s senior vice president of digital Jay Schneider explained to Future Cruise that building guest products that “get people out of lines and let people enjoy their vacation first and foremost” has been one of his main missions.

Recently he said that: “Muster 2.0 represents a natural extension of our mission to improve our guests’ vacation experiences by removing points of friction.”

Schneider and Nick Weir, the senior vice president of entertainment at Royal Caribbean were instrumental to the development of Muster 2.0. Weir is behind some of the most original and innovative entertainment experiences guests can have at sea and has successfully mixed and transitioned formats and blended technology into traditional structures, such as turning an on-board ice rink into laser tag, back again into an ice show with synchronised drones and moving image effects such as those that transform the ice into an emotive Arctic whale scene.

“The safety drill has always put a pause on the cruise experience, and I felt like it could be more efficient,” explains Nick. When he was a cruise director he explains how he was responsible for the welcome party as well as drill announcements which always brought a halt to the fun as guests were starting to enjoy themselves.

“I happened to be outside on one hot, sweaty day during the drill, and I thought why not put it all on a device so it can be done individually and monitored? Technology naturally played a big part, location services on smartphones is essential, and a big team at Royal Caribbean came together to make it happen.”