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Lotus Engineering’s View of Next Generation Electric City Car
By | July 22, 2009
Source: EV Worldwire
Class: EVWORLDWIRE
SYNOPSIS: Automotive Engineer commissions Lotus to design electric city car.
Better known for their high performance racing machines — and the starting point for the Tesla Roadster and Dodge EV — Lotus Engineering took a crack of designing the next generation urban/city electric commuter for Automotive Engineer.
Since the car is intended simply to operate on city streets shuttling the driver and his passengers from home to work, school or out to eat, the design exercise gave it a 37 kW (50 hp) electric motor and a smallish lithium battery pack that gives the car a range between recharges of 30 miles, which suggests the pack has a capacity of around 10kWh. This could translate into a reasonably priced car once lithium hits the $250/kwh cost target — it’s now estimated around $750-$1000.
Like the Reva or G-Wiz as its called in Britain, the car can handle two adults, with two children in the back seats, which can be folded down to accommodate groceries or packages.
According to UK’s Car Magazine, it took just two weeks to develop the design, one-tenth the usual amount time it takes to work up a concept. Unfortunately, it is likely remain just that, a concept, since Lotus was simply commissioned to do the study, not engineer an actual car.
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