British sportscar firm Lotus has given a sketchy look – well, it's shown a sketch – of its forthcoming first electric sports car, and has secured a deal with Britishvolt for an 'innovative new generation battery cell package' to power it.
Britishvolt recently secured a reported £100 million of government funding as part of a huge £1.7 billion investment to help the firm accelerate plans to manufacture battery cells for electric cars in Northumberland from 2024.
It will work with Lotus to demonstrate its advanced lithium-ion battery cells, which will be tailored to Lotus’ performance requirements. The key focus areas of the partnership will be fast-charging, improving energy density and weight reduction.
That latter focus will be key in the development of batteries for Lotus's forthcoming electric sports car, which will be the firm's second pure EV after the new Evija hypercar. The machine will use a platform being co-developed with Renault's performance brand Alpine, and is designed to offer classic Lotus traits – strong handling and performance with a lightweight design – in a zero-emission package.
Commenting on the new partnership, Lotus boss Matt Windle said, “Lotus is delighted to be collaborating with Britishvolt to develop new battery cell technology to showcase the thrilling performance that a Lotus EV sports car can deliver.
“These are the first exciting steps on the journey towards an all-new electric sports car from Lotus.”
Lotus is owned by Chinese car giant Geely, and is currently undergoing a major revival plan. Last year, Lotus invested £100 million in its UK facilities which includes manufacturing centres for the new Evija pure electric hypercar and the Emira sports car – the firm's final pure combustion-engined model.
Lotus has committed itself to a pure-electric future and the sports car is one of four confirmed electric models the firm is working on. It will unveil the new full-electric Type 132 SUV in the coming months, with three more EVs on the way.
While some of those models including the SUV will be built at a new facility in China, the sports car will be built at Lotus's long-running base in Hethel, Norfolk.
“This MoU demonstrates that the legacy one-size-fits-all cell strategy is no longer valid in the rapidly developing electric mobility market,” said Oliver Jones, Britishvolt chief commercial officer.
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