In the rarefied world of bleeding-edge performance, where milliseconds separate the sublime from the merely fast, one British outfit just lobbed a lightning bolt into the EV arms race. RML Group, best known for building precision machinery that blends heritage curves with modern muscle, has unveiled a battery that recharges in less time than it takes to read this paragraph.
It’s called VarEVolt. It doesn’t just sip electrons — it slams them down like a double espresso shot at the Nürburgring. In 18 seconds flat, this power-dense pack jumps from empty to full, ready to launch a hypercar into warp speed. And now, with official certification in hand, RML isn’t just showing off. They’re ready to ship it.
Speed and Scalability in a Single Pack
So, what makes the VarEVolt battery such a big deal? For starters, it’s got a C rating of 200. That number, normally buried deep in spec sheets, translates to a full charge or discharge in 18 seconds. Compare that to the Porsche Taycan’s C rating of 4 or 5 — which means it takes about 12 to 15 minutes to fully charge or discharge its battery — and you begin to understand the scale of the leap.
The numbers get crazier. VarEVolt delivers 6 kilowatts per kilogram. That’s Formula One-grade energy density packed into a module you can actually install in a car — and not just in a skunkworks prototype. This is production-grade hardware. And now, it’s been certified under the United Nations ECE Regulation 100, the gold standard for electric vehicle component safety and reliability.
“This certification puts clear water between us and a number of smaller start-ups in the EV space,” said James Arkell, Head of Powertrain at RML. “It underlines our readiness to move from prototyping and niche volumes to supporting larger production contracts.”
What that means is simple: VarEVolt isn’t a science fair project. It’s ready to roll off the line and into the hands of OEMs building the next generation of speed machines.
The battery’s first home is the Czinger 21C, a 1,250-horsepower carbon-fiber “missile” that looks like it escaped from a wind tunnel. That supercar can dissipate 4.5 kilowatt-hours of energy in 40 seconds — enough maybe to scorch asphalt and raise a few eyebrows in Monaco. According to Live Science, only 80 of these luxury cars have been produced by Czinger.
But this isn’t just about building the fastest toy for the zero point zero one percent. RML is already working on conversion kits for older hybrid hypercars — the LaFerrari, the McLaren P1, and others still basking in the sunset of the combustion age.
“For those types of cars, we can do a replacement pack that will significantly increase the range,” Mallock told Autocar. “And if the rest of the hardware within the car would allow it, you could have a version that was eight times the power output.”
Eight times. The mind reels.
Built In-House, Born on the Track
The road to VarEVolt wasn’t paved with supplier catalogs. RML didn’t find what they needed in the market, so they built it from scratch. The same team that once wrangled combustion systems for Le Mans endurance racers turned its attention to volts and amps, applying motorsport-grade integration to the world of electric propulsion.
The company has form. Back in the mid-2010s, they developed the battery and carbon chassis for the NIO EP9 — a car that didn’t just flirt with records, it obliterated them, especially on Germany’s fearsome Nürburgring. More recently, RML reimagined the 1960s Bizzarini 5300 GT, blending 3D scanning with modern safety gear to create a faithful tribute that could also survive a modern crash test.
Now, VarEVolt pushes RML from nostalgia to the cutting edge.
And the genius of the system is its modularity. Engineers can stack modules like LEGO bricks, tuning the pack for brute power, maximum range, or a sweet spot in between. Want more thrust off the line? Dial up the discharge rate. Need endurance for a road trip through the Alps? Shift the configuration.
“We can focus on range, we can focus on power, or we can balance the two,” said CEO Paul Dickinson to Autocar.
The Bigger Picture
So, what’s the catch? For now, it’s infrastructure. A battery that can accept full charge in 18 seconds demands a power source more akin to a utility substation than a standard Level 3 charger. That means VarEVolt’s magic is — at least today — best suited to racing paddocks, private collections, and specialized applications.
But the future has a way of closing gaps. Charging networks are evolving, and ultra-high-output delivery systems aren’t as far off as they once seemed. If the infrastructure catches up, batteries like VarEVolt could turn long regular EV charges into blink-and-you-miss-it pauses.
And unlike some vaporware promises in the battery world, this one is real. Certified and tested. Installed in a working car you can order — if you happen to have a couple million dollars and a place on the Czinger reservation list.
