New Lotus lightweight EV Platform
Lotus reveals a new lightweight platform for its future electric sports cars, with variable sizes and power up to 870bhp.
The Lotus lightweight mantra is key to its cars performance and handling, but with cars moving from ICE to EV it’s going to be a difficult path for Lotus to tread as a regular EV’s batteries probably weigh more on their own than an ICE Lotus.
But although Lotus can do nothing much, at least for now, about the weight of batteries, it does have plans to make an electric Lotus as much like an ICE Lotus as possible. Enter the new lightweight LEVA Platform for Lotus future EVs.
Lotus reveals its electrified rear subframe which will be incorporated into its E-Sports Platform – and be available to third parties too – which can deliver a trio of configurations – two sizes of two-seater sports cars and a 2+2 – with battery packs ranging from 66.4kWh to 99.6kWh, with batteries either stacked behind the cabin – where an engine would normally go – or as a slab mounted under the floor.
The smaller two-seater will get a single electric motor with up to 469bhp, the larger two-seater with twin motors and up to 872bhp, and a 2+2 with either the single or dual-motor setup, with the batteries sitting behind the driver in the sports cars allowing a much lower driving position.
But if you hope this new EV Platform heralds the imminent arrival of a new electric Lotus sports car, you’re going to be disappointed – it’s still several years away.
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