was an inspired concept. It was completely, utterly minimalistic, and thus in perfect keeping with Lotus founder Colin Chapman's philosophy of performance through light weight., and that means the company has the burden of reinventing the lightweight roadster for the electric era, something that doesn't exactly jibe with Chapman's philosophy.
The biggest hurdle for Caterham is how to deliver an electric Seven as driver-focused as the gas-powered car. There's also the issue of how to cram in enough batteries in the tiny Seven body to ensure decent longevity at track speeds while still keeping weight down. Caterham is up for the challenge, though, and the company on Wednesday provided a taste of what an electric Seven might be like with the reveal of the EV Seven concept.
The concept features a single motor at the rear axle, generating a peak 240 hp. Its battery is a 40-kwh unit able to charge at up to 152 kw using a DC fast charger.Caterham estimates the concept will sprint to 60 mph in four seconds and top out at 130 mph. The company also claims the curb weight is less than 1,543 pounds, which is only about 250 pounds heavier than your typical Seven. Caterham's weight target is to roughly match the weight of a gas-powered Seven carrying a passenger.
“Any electric Seven must be usable on both the road and track,” Bob Laishley, Caterham's CEO, said in a statement. “For the latter, this means being capable of a repeatable 20-15-20 drive cycle: the ability to drive on track for 20 minutes and recharge in 15 minutes with enough energy to drive for a further 20 minutes.
The EV Seven isn't intended for production but will be used as a feasibility study for a future electric Seven. It has been developed in partnership with Swindon Powertrain, a company that develops powertrains for both road and race cars, and features an immersion cooled battery pack, which is new to the world cars and features a design where the cooling liquid is in direct contact with the battery cells.
United Kingdom United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: autocar - 🏆 93. / 67 Read more »
Source: autocar - 🏆 93. / 67 Read more »
Alpine And Lotus Pump The Brakes On Jointly Developed Electric Sports Car | CarscoopsDespite being announced over a year ago, Alpine decided against the joint development of an A110 successor car auto cars
Source: Carscoop - 🏆 306. / 63 Read more »
Source: RoadandTrack - 🏆 577. / 51 Read more »