AEHRA: A new era
AEHRA’s first ever electric vehicle is a 790hp SUV with a 3m long wheelbase, four gull-wing doors and a £150,000 price tag. There is so much more to this ultra-premium Italian SUV, however.
As the global media gathered inside a well-dressed edgy studio venue in the centre of Milan, there was a genuine sense of hype and anticipation for the unveiling of the AEHRA.
Initial launch images had been shared prior to the event, and there were a few questions circling and a shared degree of cynicism. Will it be too long? How will the four elytra doors work? Does it actually look good?
As soon as the covers were stripped back, those concerns were immediately dismissed. A long, fluid body, dressed in a stylish, metallic bluey-grey with a daring front end and huge, elegant 23” and 24” wheels, drew audible gasps from the crowd.
And it is no surprise that this car looks the part. AEHRA’s design team, headed by Filippo Perini, is responsible for some of the most eye catching supercars from the likes of Lamborghini and Alfa Romeo.
Whilst the manufacturer reluctantly classifies its first EV as an SUV, it has more than a whiff of a supercar’s design language. The front end is distinctively Lamborghini, whilst the monobody architecture is often the first line drawn by a designer as he puts pen to paper on the next supercar, in the words of Perini.
That shape – the seemingly single piece of glass that stretches from the windscreen all the way to the back of the car – is all part of AEHRA’s commitment to aerodynamics. The early career of the company’s founder, Hazim Nada, was dedicated to aerodynamics and aeronautics, and it was he who instructed Filippo and his team to design a car that was fundamentally “aero”.
With a drag coefficient of around 0.21 and a total vehicle weight of less than two tonnes, the AEHRA has seemingly achieved its mission of being as efficient as it is premium.
Certain aspects of the car are subject to change, however, with customer deliveries not expected until 2025 we are very much at the beginning of AEHRA.
Range, battery and powertrain
The event in Milan was purely focused on the design of the car, however, Hazim was able to share certain details on range and the vehicles powertrain.
With “at least two or three” motors delivering between 550 to 600kW, with a battery of up to 120Kw, the aim is for the car to offer a range of up to 800km (497 miles). It will supposedly dish out around 790hp, which has been roughly worked out from the brands claims of a power output of between 550 to 600kW.
Hazim and his team remained tight lipped on the interior of the vehicle, but the main priority will be to maximise space. The dramatically short front overhang will also result in extra space in the cabin, with enough room to “comfortably seat four NBA players over two metres tall,” so it says.
Like most electric vehicles, AEHRA has also placed sustainability at the heart of its vehicle. Made almost entirely out of recycled carbon fibre, with only the crumple zones to be made of aluminium, the materials have also helped the car reduce its total weight.
The future of AEHRA
Not only is the design of the car ambitious, but AEHRA has grand plans for the rollout of its first electric vehicle.
With another model set to be announced next year, AEHRA is hoping to produce between 15,000 to 25,000 models per year for both vehicles. To put that in context, AEHRA is planning to produce more vehicles per year than Lamborghini.
Those plans will be helped by both vehicles sharing 70% of components, and the concerted effort to reduce the weight of the SUV to less than two tonnes, which will help reduce costs and the impact on the environment.
And yet, the ambition from AEHRA has to be admired. To many, the brand’s objectives feel like a gamble, but to those in charge, there is no way this can fail. There is a sense of certainty amongst them. This project will reportedly cost a staggering $700 million, but having spoken to Hazim and others involved in the project, it is a price worth paying.
From the targeted range, the expected performance and the design of the car in front of us, it is hard to see why this wouldn’t succeed. However, all we know for certain at the moment is what the car will look like, and it is not just the hundreds of journalists that have applauded the cars appearance.
“It is the best SUV I have designed with my team,” Filippo commented, after reminiscing over his work on the likes of the Lamborghini Urus.
Of course, on the day after the launch of the vehicle, AEHRA’s head of design is going to say that it is one of the best cars he has designed. However, the eccentric Italian designer was notably serious when he revealed that the electric sedan, which AEHRA is set to reveal early next year, is his best work.
The electric sedan, also to be known as the AEHRA (as all models will be – that’s right, they’re not naming their cars) will be a step change in design language from the SUV, whilst simultaneously retaining the same philosophy, as Filippo cryptically explained.
Still, if the first model is anything to go by, then the standard of electric car designs has almost certainly been raised. Hazim, Filippo and the rest of the AEHRA team spoke frequently about the number of electric models on the market that look the same and have almost identical shapes and dimensions. They set out to purposely redefine what a modern EV looks like, and they have done that in spectacular fashion. As Filippo eloquently describes, the AEHRA is the “evolution of design.”
“We want to create a soul for the car, and the first step is to make something unique,” he added.
You may be wondering where the name AEHRA comes from. Put simply, it is the Latin word for ‘era’, and with this stunning, ultra-premium Italian SUV, which will proceed a fully electric sedan, the arrival of AEHRA certainly marks a new era in the age of electrification.
