View Photos of the Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Wiesmann's Project Thunderball EV prototype charges into the future.
German firm Wiesmann once built BMW-powered retro roadsters. But it decided that its next car will be an EV, which led to this prototype: Project Thunderball. That won't be the real name, but this is mostly the real car, with 671 horsepower and 811 pound-feet of torque. Assuming it reaches production anytime soon, it'll be the first EV roadster since the original Lotus-based Tesla.
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Wiesmann is a German maker of traditionally styled sports cars. The original incarnation of the company went bankrupt in 2013, but it has been reborn around a new electric project.
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Wiesmann Project Thunderball is an EV roadster based on a development of the architecture that underpinned the company's former range of combustion-powered models.
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Power comes from a pair of axial-flux permanent-magnet AC motors that drive the rear axle through a single shaft and a conventional limited-slip differential. Peak output is claimed to be 671 horses, although the prototype we drove was making less than that.
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
The 800-volt battery occupies the space formerly taken up by engine and gearbox, meaning it assumes a T-shape. Wiesmann will construct packs from commercially sourced cells and is claiming 92 kWh of peak capacity, 83 kWh of which is usable. That's anticipated to bring a 310-mile range under the European WLTP protocol.
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Project Thunderball's interior includes both hand-stitched leather and a battery of analog instruments turned toward the driver's position—all actually report on the temperature and status of the electric powertrain.
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
The low-mounted touchscreen handles infotainment and heating and ventilation functions. Sadly, this proved to be very hard to see or operate in direct sunlight.
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
The James Bond-esque project title will be changed ahead of the car going into production, although Wiesmann says it will use an actual name rather than one of the numerical model designators the company used to own.
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
The production version of Project Thunderball will be going on sale in Europe in 2024. U.S. sales are also planned, with the company willing to undergo the costs and complications of federal-type approval to allow it to be sold here.
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Although Project Thunderball was making less than its advertised power, it still easily kept up with a V-8 Wiesmann on winding roads.
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Because the battery occupies the engine compartment and center tunnel, you sit low in the car, as you would in an internal-combustion two-seater.
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
Wiesmann Project Thunderball EV Prototype
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