What's all this about?
It's a brand-new electric vehicle (EV) from a Taiwanese company we've heard little about, but the launch of its new Sedan model should put the firm's name squarely into most people's consciousness.
You haven't mentioned the company yet. What is its name?
Thunder Power.
You what?
You heard. And don't get us started, otherwise we might veer off into a wildly self-indulgent tangent about ThunderCats, or something similar. Just suffice it to say that we love the name Thunder Power. And you don't know how hard it is for us not to shout 'Ho-ooo!' after each and every iteration of the brand.
O-kaaaay. So tell me about the Sedan EV.
It's a pretty thing that has been designed by Zagato, the Milanese design house, which has given us so many beautiful (and, sometimes, questionable) cars over the years. The swoopy body sits on a chassis dedicated to an EV design, as the 125kWh battery pack is located in the floor pan. All told, the car weighs less than 2,000kg and it has some pretty impressive stats, considering it has come almost out of nowhere to roll into Frankfurt.
What sort of stats are we talking about?
Two power variants, with either 230kW (313hp) or 320kW (435hp), will be offered in Europe from 2017. The latter of these can zoom to 62mph from rest in less than five seconds, before going on to a 155mph top speed. But it's the range of the Thunder Power (brilliant!) Sedan EV that truly astounds, as it can do 405 miles on a full charge or 186 miles with just 30
The interior looks great, doesn't it?
Indeed it does, typically show car spectacular - so we're not sure how likely it would be to make production like this. However, that full-width dashboard is called TP-Touch and it has the capacity to show every bit of data pertaining to the Sedan EV on its screens. This means minimal distractions for the driver.
So is this it for Thunder Power for now?
Trying hard to shoehorn in some sort of 'lightning never strikes twice' gag here, no, it isn't. The modular chassis means it would be easy for the Taiwanese firm to spin off other models - like a compact car, SUV or crossover - in the near future. It's just...
What? Have you got something else to say?
Well, if they did an armoured version, they could call it the ThunderTank.
You just couldn't resist, could you?
No. Sorry.
Matt Robinson - 15 Sep 2015
