Wednesday 2nd October 2024

Yamaha will power new Caterham Project V

The Caterham EV project takes a big step forward, with Yamaha e-axle coming to the prototype

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When Yamaha gets involved with an automotive project, the results tend to be pretty special. Think Ford Puma and Lexus LFA, for starters. For those cars, Yamaha helped with engine development; now it’s been confirmed that the company will work on the powertrain for the Caterham Project V, including an e-axle for the prototype. 

The Caterham EV concept made quite the impression when it debuted at Festival of Speed last year, so it’s no surprise to learn that Project V is advancing at pace towards the prototype stage. The plan remains for the car to reach commercial production, so the involvement of Yamaha feels like a big step forward. Today’s press release says the Japanese company will join as a development partner, supplying its ‘cutting-edge e-axle’ for the next stage. 

Interestingly, the prototype is not being built by Caterham, but by engineering company Tokyo R&D, which is said to boast a ‘proven track record in developing major OEM-commissioned vehicles’. So the forecast mid-2025 completion date hopefully shouldn’t alter. Perhaps a fully functioning demo car could be at next year’s Festival of Speed. Just a thought.

Encouragingly, Caterham believes that getting Yamaha onboard ‘will not only deliver a powertrain to match the expectations of what an all-new Caterham should be, but confidently accelerate the delivery of Project V to the market’. That has to be good news given that time tends to move quite slowly when it comes to Caterham's evolution. Perhaps that group test of Porsche 718 EV, electric A110 and the next Lotus sports car will have another contender sooner than we think...

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• Caterham turns to Jannarelly for Chief Designer
• All-electric Caterham Project V revealed

[B10]

Seems like Caterham leveraging its Japanese owners Japanese contacts

[cirks]

I know proofreading isn't the strong point of PH but : Yahama will power new Caterham Project V

[IanJ9375]

Stunning design, lets hope it delivers on driving dynamics

[GT9]

cirks said:

I know proofreading isn't the strong point of PH but : Yahama will power new Caterham Project V

Could have been worse, at least it wasn't Yamama.

[W12AAM]

Looks good and remember seeing this at FoS in 2023.
Remembered, also, saying they were muppets going down the EV route - esp. as they are a small niche company etc.
As you can see everywhere with whats happening with car manufacturers....NO ONE WANTS EV's! - Unless heavily subsidised for by your company as a Co. Car (which we all subsidise via our taxes!)

Put money on it that EV's will be the new diesel gate in 10years time!
Caterham should have kept the petrol engine in this car

An interesting "test bed" will be how much you will be able to get a MG Cyberstar for in 1 years time?
Already 2-3 year old electric cars can be had for less than 1/2 price.

Edited by W12AAM on Wednesday 2nd October 11:00

[Demonix]

New drivetrain from Yahama, ph introducing an exciting alternative provider or just published without spell checking...lol

[Twoshoe]

Quite a mixture of styling cues there, but overall it comes together well - I like it. Hope it's as good to drive as it is to look at.

[E-numbers]

Tokyo R&D were partners with Chris and Luke Craft on the Vemac, well Vemac was started by two R&D people. Can see some similarities in the design, even if there isn’t a formal connection in designer.

Good luck Caterham, this will be something special to pull off, I hope it works out well.

[Peterpetrole]

W12AAM said:

Looks good and remember seeing this at FoS in 2023.
Remembered, also, saying they were muppets going down the EV route - esp. as they are a small niche company etc.
As you can see everywhere with whats happening with car manufacturers....NO ONE WANTS EV's! - Unless heavily subsidised for by your company as a Co. Car (which we all subsidise via our taxes!)

Put money on it that EV's will be the new diesel gate in 10years time!
Caterham should have kept the petrol engine in this car

An interesting "test bed" will be how much you will be able to get a MG Cyberstar for in 1 years time?
Already 2-3 year old electric cars can be had for less than 1/2 price.

Edited by W12AAM on Wednesday 2nd October 11:00

The pitch is a bit queered at the moment because a lot of people who might otherwise consider EVs are aware of the never ending speculation about solid state batteries "coming soon". (Which I believe this, and other projects, don't have access to).

[SDK]

W12AAM said:

Looks good and remember seeing this at FoS in 2023.
Remembered, also, saying they were muppets going down the EV route - esp. as they are a small niche company etc.
As you can see everywhere with whats happening with car manufacturers....NO ONE WANTS EV's! - Unless heavily subsidised for by your company as a Co. Car (which we all subsidise via our taxes!)

Put money on it that EV's will be the new diesel gate in 10years time!
Caterham should have kept the petrol engine in this car

An interesting "test bed" will be how much you will be able to get a MG Cyberstar for in 1 years time?
Already 2-3 year old electric cars can be had for less than 1/2 price.

Edited by W12AAM on Wednesday 2nd October 11:00

Here we go again......
Shock - some ICE cars can also be had for for less than 1/2 price after 2/3 years!

Also, how much exactly are you subsidising company EV users through your taxes?

Edited by SDK on Wednesday 2nd October 11:29

[J4CKO]

[quote=W12AAM]NO ONE WANTS EV's! /quote]

I love it when people speak authoritatively for the rest of humanity.

[Clivey]

Styling-wise, this is great. It's actually refreshing to see a sleek EV that doesn't look like a platform shoe.

The only problem, and for me this has so far been insurmountable, is that I just can't see electric motors ever providing the engagement you get from an ICE powertrain, no matter the power levels or performance figures. I just don't want an EV.

[anonymous-user]

W12AAM said:

NO ONE WANTS EV's!

I'd like one.

[chrisironside]

Guitars, keyboards, network devices, golf clubs, motorbikes, car engines... Yamaha truly are the Aldi middle isle of manufacturing.

[otolith]

Their whole history has been taking boring engines donated from boring cars and making something exciting of them, if anyone can do it with an electric drivetrain it's them.

[anonymous-user]

otolith said:

Their whole history has been taking boring engines donated from boring cars and making something exciting of them, if anyone can do it with an electric drivetrain it's them.

Yeah, this is an important point. I don't think many people consider the Ford Duratec to be a charismatic and exciting engine, but when it's jammed into a bewheeled climbing frame, the package becomes a lot more interesting.

[Baldchap]

chrisironside said:

Guitars, keyboards, network devices, golf clubs, motorbikes, car engines... Yamaha truly are the Aldi middle isle of manufacturing.

Their engines are usually pretty spectacular, though.

Loved my R6. 16000RPM with Akra carbon fibre exhaust and PC3. Beautiful piece of engineering.

[cerb4.5lee]

Hopefully this will push the value of my Caterham 7 up!

I do quite like the way this looks though.

[otolith]

cerb4.5lee said:

Hopefully this will push the value of my Caterham 7 up!

I do quite like the way this looks though.

I don't think this will, but I think when they eventually stop making new petrol cars at all, that might well.

[Kawasicki]

Love everything about this car, the looks, the concept... I am praying they do a great job of developing it.