Lotus planning Electric Car

I suppose it was inevitable that Lotus would not settle for simply supplying Tesla with the chassis for their electric car, and would look to jump on the bandwagon of electric cars (EV).

Lotus CEO, Michael Kimberly, has told the Financial Times that Lotus is planning an electric car “sooner rather than later”, and went on to say that it will be an extended range battery vehicle.

Extended range EVs (like the Chevy Volt) are probably the best option for a mainstream car at the moment, at least until you can buy hydrogen at the pumps other than in California. The extended range system uses a conventional petrol engine to charge the batteries, giving a good range, and no problems with a lack of somewhere to plug-in to complete a journey.

Lotus Evora - best option for the Lotus EV?

But which existing car (if they use an existing car) will Lotus choose for this new EV? Well, our money is on the new Lotus Evora. There will have to be somewhere to put the batteries, and the Evora’s 2+2 layout offers a bit of spare room where the back seats would be.

Lotus could of course use the Elise, but that would probably be a case of foot-shooting if they do. Lotus already supplies the chassis for the Tesla EV, and I’m sure it wouldn’t go down too well with Tesla if Lotus went that route. But if they use the Evora, they could probably get Tesla to chip in some technical know-how and swap Elise chassis for EV components.

It could work out well for both Lotus and Tesla.

By Cars UK