【Dead Again】

When Elon Musk stunned the automotive world with the reveal of the Tesla Roadster,Dead Again speed junkies everywhere reeled at the potential promised by the new sedan.

Now, not even a week after the Musk rattled off the ridiculous specs purportedly achieved by his prototype, another electric car startup has burst onto the scene with similarly outsized claims and plans to take the high-speed performance off-road.

Taipei-based powertrain maker XING Mobility just announced that it's well along in the testing process for its new supercar prototype, the Miss R. The all-electric, rally-inspired beast will have both on-road and off-road capabilities and use a new modular, immersion-cooled battery system, which the company developed internally with chemical maker 3M's technologies.

The Miss R prototype will challenge the Tesla Roadster for the title of the world's fastest car once both the speedsters actually hit the road. XING claims its rally-capable monster will be depend on four independent 350V motors to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 1.8 seconds, 0 to 200 km/h in 5.1 seconds, and max out at a top speed of over 270 km/h.

Tesla's specs for the Roadster have all been provided in the American standard of miles per hour — 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds, 0 to 100 mph in 4.2 seconds, top speed of over 250 mph — but even so, it appears that on paper the Miss R could become the new king of automotive acceleration, since 100 km/h equals roughly 62 mph.

XING has already tested out the powertrain and battery system in an exposed drivetrain prototype. The company released some footage in a teaser video, which you can check out below:

The startup didn't offer any details about the Miss R battery system's exact range, so for the moment the Tesla Roadster's estimated 620 mile capacity has the edge. XING does claim, however, that the system won't operate like traditional EV batteries; instead, drivers will be able to swap out lightweight packs in a five minute process for more power.

XING explicitly mentioned Tesla and the Roadster in its release about the Miss R concept, but the startup isn't exactly gunning for Elon Musk & Co.'s spot as the most recognized electric carmaker in the world. XING is instead more focused on powertrain and battery technology, which it hopes to offer to other vehicle manufacturers. The Miss R is instead more of a flashy proof of concept showcase for XING's tech.

The startup plans to continue testing the prototype and reveal a completed version of the car in 2018. The next step is to hit full power, so there might be a chance in the near future to see if the vehicle's performance can live up to the hype.

The Miss R will still be available for brave, speed-hungry gearheads to buy in 2019, a year before Tesla plans to put the Roadster into production, but customers will have to be willing to pay for the outsized performance. XING will only produce 20 of the cars and sell them for $1 million each. That makes the $200,000 Roadster look like a steal—but if you want to take a super-fast EV off-roading, it'll probably be your only option.

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