The Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac, 33-year-old founder of Rimac Automobili and producer of the world's first electric supercar, has announced his cooperation with Lastinski inženiring, as reported on Total Croatia News. The Slovenian company is run by Samo Omerzel, a former Minister of Infrastructure, Energy, Transport and Spatial Planning.
The Hyper E-Car Lab, to be based in Novo Mesto, will be used by Rimac Automobili to test battery and propulsion systems for its own cars, and will also offer these services to other companies.
Mate Rimac is quoted as saying: "The testing of electric powertrains and battery systems is a relatively new area and all manufacturers are struggling for testing capacities, and although we have certain capacities for that in the company in Croatia, which we're also upgrading, we still need more capacity. He added that with the rise of electric vehicles this project should help Slovenia to develop its own capacities and skills in this area, with cars already being one of the country’s most important export industries.
Slovenian media reports claim that Rimac and Samo Omerzel have received €3.4 million euros from Slovenia’s Ministry of the Economy to develop the test centre project, which is intended as "a high-tech laboratory, which will allow for the testing of batteries, propulsion motors and electronics for the batteries of high-capacity electric vehicles."
