RE: All-electric Caterham Seven promised
Discussion
Equus said:
Committing to, no. Experimenting with, yes.
Google 'Westfield WiSPER' (contrived acronym: Westfield in Structural Plastics Electric Roadster), which had a composite monocoque tub as well as being electrically powered (guess we'll need to give Caterham another quarter of a century to catch up with that...).
I did google it - not a lot out there about it, unless my searching is a bit rubbish.Google 'Westfield WiSPER' (contrived acronym: Westfield in Structural Plastics Electric Roadster), which had a composite monocoque tub as well as being electrically powered (guess we'll need to give Caterham another quarter of a century to catch up with that...).
braddo said:
There is a decade to get used to EVs.
There is 7 years, from when Caterham reckon they'll have this ready for customers.People will get used to EVs, certainly - they'll have to. But it's a matter of convincing them to buy a Caterham EV rather than any other (including Lotus, who will be streets ahead of them).
As I've said, Caterham owners are probably top of the heap - well ahead even of Morgan, after the work Morgan has already put in on updating their technology and image - when it comes to being blinkered, narrow-minded reactionaries who are not receptive to changes to 'their' company's products.
Morgan enthusiasts were much the same, but through long, hard slog Morgan have managed to change their customer perception to a sufficient degree to allow them to survive. The original Clarence-the-crosseyed-lion Aero 8 was launched 21 years ago, remember (yes, that's three times the length of time that Caterham will have left), and it's only last year when they've had the confidence to finally drop their archaic sliding pillar and live axle ladder frame in favour of the modern aluminium chassis architecture across the whole range.
Given Caterham's long list of previous failures to gain acceptance for alternative products, I wouldn't underestimate the problems that face them... but at least this is a long overdue start.
Edited by Equus on Thursday 13th May 22:13
rockin said:
You really are priceless, clattering away angrily at your keyboard with nothing to bring to the party.
Caterhams are great fun for 20 minutes. Do I want one in my garage? No. But unlike you I don't feel the need to snipe and sneer at them.
Unlike you I owned a Caterham, broke it, rebuilt it and enjoyed many miles. Maybe even the odd 21min run Caterhams are great fun for 20 minutes. Do I want one in my garage? No. But unlike you I don't feel the need to snipe and sneer at them.
you’ll not know but owners are a hardy bunch. Feel free to comment on your ownership experience of an S3 chassis, how the K series compared to VX etc and how you found the metric chassis?
Or you can just be quiet.
Caterham rushing to issue an EV in the next 3-5 years will fail. There is no demand for one when one can buy a petrol one instead in the final swansong decade of ICE cars.
The rate of dev of ev’s and hybrids is astonishing and by the end of the decade we can’t know how much:
1- the cost of EV will have reduced
2- the tech will have improved for hybrids and EVs
Caterham rushing into EV now is as stupid and pointless as Westfield doing an EV bodge with car batteries 20 years ago.
The rate of dev of ev’s and hybrids is astonishing and by the end of the decade we can’t know how much:
1- the cost of EV will have reduced
2- the tech will have improved for hybrids and EVs
Caterham rushing into EV now is as stupid and pointless as Westfield doing an EV bodge with car batteries 20 years ago.
braddo said:
Caterham rushing into EV now is as stupid and pointless as Westfield doing an EV bodge with car batteries 20 years ago.
Typical reactionary Caterham owner, unfortunately... head so far up your own ass that the only way you'll see the light is by swallowing a torch.Which bit of 'customer acceptance takes time to develop' are you failing to understand?
Caterham need to develop a customer base who sees them as representing more than some fictitious 'original and best' back-to-basics Chapman design from the 1950's. It's going to take them a long time to do that.
It's no good them launching an EV at ten to midnight the day before ICE cars are banned... they need to be recognised as a player as the field develops.
Equus said:
Typical reactionary Caterham owner, unfortunately... head so far up your own ass that the only way you'll see the light is by swallowing a torch.Which bit of 'customer acceptance takes time to develop' are you failing to understand?
Caterham need to develop a customer base who sees them as representing more than some fictitious 'original and best' back-to-basics Chapman design from the 1950's. It's going to take them a long time to do that.
It's no good them launching an EV at ten to midnight the day before ICE cars are banned... they need to be recognised as a player as the field develops.
You clearly have no clue what Caterham are, and their niche.
Equus said:
Typical reactionary Caterham owner, unfortunately... head so far up your own ass that the only way you'll see the light is by swallowing a torch.Which bit of 'customer acceptance takes time to develop' are you failing to understand?
.
I am not a Caterham customer. The few I have met are not luddites. The people who buy new Caterhams today are not buying them for spectacular engines. The people who buy new Caterhams in 2030 will be far more accustomed to no manual gearbox and no petrol engine. And they will still want the raw elements a 7 offers beyond an engine.
rockin said:
ddom said:
Huge power Caterhams are just a one dimensional toy which break often.
You really are priceless, clattering away angrily at your keyboard with nothing to bring to the party.Caterhams are great fun for 20 minutes. Do I want one in my garage? No. But unlike you I don't feel the need to snipe and sneer at them.
braddo said:
Equus said:
Typical reactionary Caterham owner, unfortunately... head so far up your own ass that the only way you'll see the light is by swallowing a torch.Which bit of 'customer acceptance takes time to develop' are you failing to understand?
.
I am not a Caterham customer. The few I have met are not luddites. The people who buy new Caterhams today are not buying them for spectacular engines. The people who buy new Caterhams in 2030 will be far more accustomed to no manual gearbox and no petrol engine. And they will still want the raw elements a 7 offers beyond an engine.
I can't find a magazine review anywhere which says a Caterham is a bad driver's car and worse than its rivals. Only this oddball on PH who seems to think so.
SidewaysSi said:
I can't find a magazine review anywhere which says a Caterham is a bad driver's car.
Ah Si, nice to see you, sweety... I was getting genuinely concerned you taking so long to show up. I had visions of you twisting gently in suspension from the rafters, after reading the headline on this thread.I've NEVER said that the Caterham is a bad drivers car. I've just dared to suggest that it's a fairly archaic design, and that there are better, more sophisticated options out there if you look.
Admittedly, I do rely on personal experience, not what I read in magazines (I used to write for some of them, so I know how circumspect they have to be about what they publish, to avoid upsetting advertisers).
braddo said:
I am not a Caterham customer. The few I have met are not luddites.
Braddo - meet Si. Si - braddo.
Edited by Equus on Friday 14th May 00:00
For me a Caterham is one of the best(if not the best) drivers cars that there is. So for me Caterham deserve to go down the toilet for even thinking about going electric. It is a sad day for sure.
There are plenty of boring car manufacturers going electric as it is, so now that the exciting ones are going electric it doesn't give me much hope at all for sure.
There are plenty of boring car manufacturers going electric as it is, so now that the exciting ones are going electric it doesn't give me much hope at all for sure.
Xfe said:
There is a naive tendency in many to believe that all progress is good progress. It is not. Sometimes the old way is better. This applies for Caterham and for countless other things today...
Whether you're right or not, the old way is being outlawed. There is a naive tendency in many to stick their heads in the sand (or somewhere else equally dark in the more extreme cases) and ignore that fact, hoping it might go away.If Caterham want to survive, they (and their customer base) have to deal with it.
Equus said:
SidewaysSi said:
I can't find a magazine review anywhere which says a Caterham is a bad driver's car.
Ah Si, nice to see you, sweety... I was getting genuinely concerned you taking so long to show up. I had visions of you twisting gently in suspension from the rafters, after reading the headline on this thread.I've NEVER said that the Caterham is a bad drivers car. I've just dared to suggest that it's a fairly archaic design, and that there are better, more sophisticated options out there if you look.
Admittedly, I do rely on personal experience, not what I read in magazines (I used to write for some of them, so I know how circumspect they have to be about what they publish, to avoid upsetting advertisers).
braddo said:
I am not a Caterham customer. The few I have met are not luddites.
Braddo - meet Si. Si - braddo.
Edited by Equus on Friday 14th May 00:00
You do seem hell bent on bashing Caterham. So it was the wife? Life sucks sometimes eh?
SidewaysSi said:
You do seem hell bent on bashing Caterham.
The problem is that, having owned one and moved on via several equally or more capable (and much cheaper) competitors, I'm capable of taking a balanced view of them. Some of the more rabid fanbois like yourself just see anything but fawning, sycophantic praise of everything the company does as 'bashing'. You need to broaden your own experience of the competition: it might just lead you to realise how ridiculous your current stance is.If you think I've got a downer on Caterhams, you really wouldn't want to get me started on TVR's or Robin Hoods!
I'm genuinely pleased at this news. It's a move in the right direction and means that the company might just have a chance of long-term survival.
Since they seem to be suggesting that they'll continue building ICE cars alongside the EV's for as long as possible (unlike many, such as JLR, who are now committing to a complete switchover earlier than necessary), I can't even see what the Luddites are getting so upset about.
It's early days, yet, so I'm reserving judgement, but if Takahashi continues as he seems to have started, he might be just what the company needs to shake it out of its stupor.
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