RE: Lotus and Alpine team up for EV sports car

[kambites]

We'll very soon have a choice between electric new sportscars and no new sportscars, so it can only be a good thing that two of the producers of the very best driver-focussed ICE sports cars currently on sale are teaming up to see what they can do with electric propulsion.

[Sandpit Steve]

Xfe said:

EV zzz...I am not at all convinced that it's possible to make a fun EV (fun in the same way that ICE sports cars are)

There’s reasonable applications for them as drag racers or hill climbers, but the compromises between range and weight don’t yet really favour something one can jump in on a Sunday morning and go have fun for two or three hours. Not to mention that half the fun of a sports car is in the engine noise and the gearshift.

[bobbylondonuk]

MiseryStreak said:

This is fantastic news. I’ll be ready for an electric sports car by 2030, possibly before, and Lotus and Alpine are sure to deliver the best possible.

They just need to find a way of reintroducing a clutch and manual gearbox to an electric powered drivetrain. No, I’m just kidding. I’m going to hold on to an ICE car for that reason. Even if it means sitting in it in the garage and waggling the gearstick whilst making engine noises as petrol will be classified as a biohazard.

So why can't an electric motor not be run via clutch, gearbox, diff as it is now? as in replace the ICE for an electric motor and keep everything else same from a chassis, running gear pov?

its frankenstein, mongrel, inefficient stuff for an EV agreed. But for a sportscar, it would be brilliant wouldn't it?

[kambites]

I think it would feel very odd to drive unless you artificially hobbled the motor to make it feel more like an ICE.

[Fetchez la vache]

article said:

Well, imagine no longer, because Alpine and Lotus have joined forces.

Am I dreaming?
I thought the A110 WAS a collaboration between Lotus and Renault/Alpine - before they had a falling out towards the end of development and Renault/Alpine went it alone?

[danp]

Fetchez la vache said:

Am I dreaming?
I thought the A110 WAS a collaboration between Lotus and Renault/Alpine - before they had a falling out towards the end of development and Renault/Alpine went it alone?

It was Caterham and Alpine that split up.

[Sporky]

Fetchez la vache said:

Am I dreaming?
I thought the A110 WAS a collaboration between Lotus and Renault/Alpine - before they had a falling out towards the end of development and Renault/Alpine went it alone?

Caterham and Alpine.

And less a falling out, more a realisation that Caterham couldn't afford to carry on with the development.

[otolith]

kambites said:

I think it would feel very odd to drive unless you artificially hobbled the motor to make it feel more like an ICE.

There are electric converted ICE cars which retain the clutch and gearbox, but they're largely superfluous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJLdzRJdKrs

[anonymous-user]

Sounds like a lot of beards in one place!

Let's hope it goes better than the previous Alpine/Caterham venture.

[bcr5784]

RemarkLima said:

After having an i3, which is only 1350 kg, with 4 seats it's very much possible to get weight down and have a 180 mile range.

Personally, that drive train - 180 bhp - in an Elise would be absolutely perfect! I've had sports cars with worse range

Edited by RemarkLima on Thursday 14th January 10:22

That i3 weight is EU - ie with 75kg for a driver included. 1275kg DIN is remarkable.

[jwbc1984]

2 talented brands, coming together to share their respective talents. What could go wrong?

[Miserablegit]

jwbc1984 said:

2 talented brands, coming together to share their respective talents. What could go wrong?

Absolutely valid point but there isn't a current or recent product of either company that I'd have said no to.

[simonrockman]

I'd rather like something hybrid, like an MX-5 with electric power to the front wheels.

Some smart torque shuffling could make it Prius like around town, and fun and quick on the twistys.

Simon

[Nerdherder]

Hope that this pans out better than the Caterham/Alpine collab. At least Geely and Renault are more evenly matched in terms of corporate approach.

[Rick101]

Fantastic news.

Innovation it Lotus forte!

[Motormatt]

kambites said:

We'll very soon have a choice between electric new sportscars and no new sportscars, so it can only be a good thing that two of the producers of the very best driver-focussed ICE sports cars currently on sale are teaming up to see what they can do with electric propulsion.

This. Alpine and Lotus are trying to get ahead of the curve here, huge amounts development work and associated costs will be needed to transition away from ICE, and less than 9 years to do it. Makes perfect sense for low volume makers to join forces and share their technology and the development burden.
I wonder what the future holds for the likes of Caterham, Morgan, Ariel. I'm not aware there will be any exemptions based on sales volume for ICE cars after 2030, they're all going to have the same challenges.

[B'stard Child]

jwbc1984 said:

2 talented brands, coming together to share their respective talents. What could go wrong?

To be honest they weren't a bad car - they just divided up the share the wrong way so you got the worst of both

Italian reliability and Nissan styling wasn't the best marriage

Italian Styling and Nissan reliability could have been a winner

[CABC]

Lotobear said:

Clever move by Renault - the Lotus link to chinese battery tech was probably not lost on them!

That said, call me a dinosaur, but the idea of an electric sport car Lotus or otherwise does absolutely nothing for me

i can understand that. buy an Elise now!

However, what would you do if you were Lotus or Alpine charged with making money from new cars?

[andrew]

never work with animals, children or the french

[kiseca]

B'stard Child said:

jwbc1984 said:

2 talented brands, coming together to share their respective talents. What could go wrong?

To be honest they weren't a bad car - they just divided up the share the wrong way so you got the worst of both

Italian reliability and Nissan styling wasn't the best marriage

Italian Styling and Nissan reliability could have been a winner

I always thought that too But just imagine if they'd done it the other way around. It would be a Sud (or worse, a 33) with a Nissan Pulsar engine


Maybe I'm in the minority here but IMO the Sud wasn't much of a looker either. Nicer than a Pulsar I guess.


For Lotus and Alpine.... I hope it works out for them. Personally I think neither brand have traded on their legendary engines in their history so among sportscar manufacturers I think they can make EVs work to their brand easier than most. For Lotus the engine has always just been there to push the car and the performance has always been about the dynamics.

They weren't just about lightness either, the famous quote was simplify, then add lightness. And on that note I would think electric motors may have been right up Colin Chapman's street, an opportunity to gain performance while dumping the complicated, maintenance heavy engine and gearbox.

I can imagine him adopting electric motors just as soon as they became practical enough to run in a sportscar.