Infiniti’s Gorgeous EV Proves ‘Silence Is the New Vroom’

Infiniti’s Gorgeous EV Proves ‘Silence Is the New Vroom’:

All photos: Newspress

By By Jason Torchinsky, Jalopnik
The Emerg-E concept car is Infiniti’s first stab at a mid-engine car. But that wasn’t enough for Nissan‘s upscale division. No, it had to add to the complexity by becoming the first manufacturer to build a mid-engined car where the engine doesn’t actually drive the wheels.
The Emerg-E, a name that sounds like a powdered concoction you’d mix with water to ward off colds, is a mid-engined, range-extended electric sports car.

It uses two 201-horsepower electric motors, one driving each rear wheel, for propulsion. They’re fed by a lithium-iron phosphate battery pack good for an electric-only range of 30 miles. Beyond that, the Lotus 1.2-liter, 46-horsepower three-cylinder engine drives a generator to keep juice flowing to the wheels for a total range of 300 miles.
Infiniti says the Emerg-E will make 737.6 pound-feet of torque, good enough to get the car to 60 in 4 seconds and then, if you’re really in a hurry or being chased by cyborg bears, all the way to 130 mph in 30 seconds.


Like many electric motors, that maximum power is “peak” power, not available always and forever. Inifiniti says that the full burst is only good for 30 seconds or less, suggesting that if you could somehow ignore or push that, you could accelerate beyond 130 mph. We’ll have to test it in a special climate-controlled warehouse to see for sure.
Styling-wise, the Emerge-E is a striking vehicle, with the usual Inifiniti baroqueness cut with a bit of Mitsuoka Orochi. Though this is the first Infiniti concept developed in Europe, the design came from Infiniti’s California design studio. The bodywork is highly fluid and suggests fabric drapery, with graceful curves and deep folds and creases; the designers reference the “furl of the neck of a Kimono” as an influence.
The press release goes a little off the new-age deep end, suggesting that the lights are “suggestive of human insight” and mentioning things like “Energetic Force” and “Dignified Intelligence” in creepy, breathless tones. Press release hyperbole aside, the car certainly has presence, and the unique, powerful yet languid forms of the body are engaging. The Emerg-E definitely would prove a distinctive look for the company.
“Silence is the new vroom,” notes the press release, and while I’m not sure I agree, it provides a clear idea of where many premium luxury brands are headed with cars like the Emerg-E, Jaguar C-x16 and Lexus LF-LC hybrid. Hybrid electric sports cars are a great idea, but I’m glad everyone isn’t as, um, ethereal as Infiniti.