House of the Dragon — 1200 HP, 4 Motor Drako GTE Hypercar

Energy
Wednesday, August 24th, 2022 7:20 am EDT

The recent premier of HBO’s “House of the Dragon” series coincided with the launch of a new, more powerful version of the Lucid Air. Called “Sapphire,” that vehicle promises more than 1200 HP and a sub-9.0 second quarter mile time, fresh out of the box. That’s fast – but the combination of the two news items reminded me of another hot, go-fast EV … this one, with a bit more “draconian” name than the Sapphire.

It’s called the Drako GTE, and it’s so ridiculously, bonkers powerful that its spec sheet sounds more like a nitromethane-fueled fever dream.

All Your Racetrack Are Belong to Drako

If you’ve never heard of the Drako GTE, you’re forgiven. We’ve never featured it in CleanTechnica, and most people — even some of the most dedicated “car people” — haven’t heard of it, but they’re missing out. That’s because the four-motor, 1200 HP Drako GTE isn’t just the most powerful electric vehicle you can buy today, but the most powerful vehicle you can buy, period … and it’s not the 1200 HP. It’s the Drako’s staggering 6,491 lb-ft of Earth-moving torque.

Go back and read that again.

Yeah. The Drako GTE is simply beyond compare. Even other “fast” cars like the Tesla Model S Plain (905 lb-ft) or Lucid Air Dream Edition (737 lb-ft), or even the $3 million, quad-turbo Bugatti Chiron (1,180 lb-ft) would seem like mere toys in the presence of the GTE — and it is 100% for-real, kept barely manageable by an advanced, torque-vectoring traction control system that’s been dubbed “the Drako DriveOS.”

What’s more, it’s not even the only Drako.

Drako Dragon Electric Crossover

Drake first teased the upcoming Dragon SUV last month, and we know very little about its specifications — beyond the fact that it’s got gullwing doors (obviously), ride a little higher than the GTE (again, obviously), and that it’s likely to be every bit as powerful as its more svelte sibling.

Why? From the official press release: “While some carmakers tout their vehicles’ straight-line speed with movie punchlines, Drako needs no gimmicks for the Dragon: Top speed is over 200 mph, it runs the quarter mile in 9.0 seconds, and it hits 60 mph in 1.9 seconds. The Dragon summons this performance from the DriveOS Quad Motor Powertrain, its in-house battery system, and the nanosecond-precise control of the Drako DriveOS vehicle architecture, which combines the ultimate in handling and performance with next-generation technology and luxury features.”

Power is Luxury, but so is Luxury

We’ve debated what passes for “luxury” before on the CleanTech Round Talk podcasts, but it’s worth noting that different carmakers have very different ideas of what their high-end clients want. Tesla seems to think they want steering yokes, virtual controls, and iPad-like interfaces. Over at Mercedes-Benz, the EQS team decided that what their well-heeled buyers want is screens. Big, wild-looking screens. Bentley still gets by with wood and leather, while Volvo and Polestar push for recycled ocean plastics and other vegan or plant-based materials.

Drako hasn’t shown us their idea of luxury, yet, as it comes to a more “mainstream” electric SUV (the GTE was always, admittedly, more of a proof-of-concept type hypercar to prove out the firm’s engineering prowess). We can still guess, however, based on the press release. “Likewise,” it reads, “the cabin is wrapped in Europe’s finest, most sumptuous leather, exuding luxury and comfort, with a unique layout and easy ingress/egress. But more than just looking and feeling great, the 5-seat cabin is designed without compromise to its functionality, offering world-class passenger comfort and space and ample luggage capacity in addition to world-beating luxury and performance.”

We’ll all have to wait to see what the dragon brand has in store for us, then. In the meantime, you can check out this video, from the launch of the Drako back in 2019, then let us know what you think of this big bad electric dragon in the comments at the bottom of the page.

Introducing Drako GTE

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Source | Images: Drako Motors.

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