Fans of the yet to be delivered Tesla Roadster may have a new option on the horizon. Enter Lotus.
From Wired:
Lotus, the iconic British automaker that helped Tesla Motors and Chrysler develop their electric cars, is building a high-performance battery-powered sports car of its own and says we could see a prototype in March.
The company says the as-yet-unnamed car will be a range-extended EV that, like the Chevrolet Volt and Fisker Karma, uses an internal combustion engine to recharge the battery as it approaches depletion. Such a car would be squarely aimed at at the Tesla Roadster and Dodge EV, two cars that draw much of their automotive DNA from the Lotus bloodline.
"Don't be surprised to see an electric Lotus shortly," Lotus boss Michael Kimberly tells the Financial Times. "We are working on the technologies that will go behind it."
Most of the major automakers are developing battery-electric vehicles, but they tend to be runabouts like the Mitsubishi iMiEV or compacts like the Mini-E. Lotus, which is renowned for building cars with superlative handling, joins Tesla, Fisker Automotive and the German tuning-house Ruf in developing an electric car built solely for speed. The project further cements its reputation as a green-tech leader.
An EV is a natural for Lotus. Beyond providing the platforms on which the Tesla and Dodge electric vehicles were built, Lotus builds the Roadster at its plant in Hethel, England, and provided technical help to Ecotricity, the British green-power company that is building an EV called the Wind Car.
Lotus, which builds about 3,000 cars a year and turned a profit of $2.9 million last year, is investing nearly $90 million in lower-emissions technology. Much of the R&D is done through the company's engineering arm, Lotus Engineering, which is working on everything from a fuel-cell taxi and hybrid limo to a two-stroke engine that burns just about anything.
Kimberly says the electric Lotus may debut at the Geneva auto show in March.
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