2021 Karma Revero GTE Sees Sports Sedan Finally Go All-EV
Karma Automotive's first all-electric car has been confirmed, though we'll need to wait some time before we can check out the Revero GTE from behind the wheel. The fourth iteration of the Revero series, it's the first to ditch the hybrid range-extending gas engine and switch entirely to an all-electric drivetrain.
Until now, as with the Fisker Karma before it, the Revero has been a plug-in hybrid. In the most recent Revero GTS, for example, that means the combination a twin-turbo three-cylinder inline gas engine – sourced from BMW – paired with twin electric motors.
The 2021 Revero GTE, however, will do away with that gas engine. Instead Karma will offer two versions of the luxury sedan, one with a battery rated for 200 miles of driving, and another good for 400 miles. They'll eventually be followed with a "hyper-range" version, Karma says, expected to be capable of 400 miles of driving on a charge.
It'll use the Karma E-Flex platform, the recently-announced architecture for electric vehicles that the automaker is pitching as a shortcut for other companies to bring EVs to market. In that way, the Revero GTE will be as much a technical showcase as it is a standalone model. Future E-Flex-based vehicles will include autonomous driving features, Karma has promised, and span a variety of body styles from sports cars through to utility vehicles.
For the moment, though, the 2021 Revero GTE will be the only pure-EV on the platform. Karma says the car will deliver 0-60 mph times in under 3.9 seconds, as well as feature electronic torque vectoring. That should allow the sedan to push its power directly to the wheel with the best traction, as well as to tighten up cornering.
The 75 kWh Nickel Manganese Cobalt li-ion battery in the standard range Revero GTE, and the 100 kWh battery in the extended range model, will support 150 kW DC fast charging. With the right charging station, Karma suggests, you could be looking at 80-percent charge in under 30 minutes. Domestic charging will offer a more sedate 11 kW rate.
Karma says that reservations for the 2021 Revero GTE will open up over the next few months, so that would-be drivers will be able to configure and preorder their cars. Actual market availability, however, won't be until spring 2021. Pricing will be announced closer to that point, though it's worth noting that the 2020 Revero GT starts at just shy of $150k.