Monday 28th January 2019

Lotus and Williams Advanced Engineering team up

The new "strategic technical partnership" that should power Lotus' £2m hypercar

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Electric is the future, batteries are heavy, weight is bad; we've heard it a million times. So when one of Britain's foremost experts in battery and electric motor tech teams up with a brand famed for 'adding lightness', it can only be a good thing.

That's exactly what's happened today, with Lotus and Williams Advanced Engineering announcing a new strategic technical partnership. Under the arrangement, the companies will join forces to research and develop "advanced propulsion technologies" with the aim of leading "high performance automotive evolution across multiple vehicle sectors".

While the press release doesn't get any more specific than that, it does draw attention to WAE's "award-winning work applying knowledge derived from the pinnacle of battery technology during the inaugural four seasons of Formula E into electric vehicles". Put that alongside Lotus Engineering's status as "an acknowledged leader in lightweight structures and advanced materials" and it isn't hard to see where things are headed.

Lotus, of course, is already believed to be working on a bespoke all-electric hypercar, set to act as a halo product as owners Geely repositions the brand for the future. Beyond the obvious relevance the partnership will have to that project, though, it's easy to see it bearing fruit in other areas of the manufacturer's upcoming range. A Lotus SUV could certainly benefit from the technology, as could hybrid variants of its road cars, which seem increasingly inevitable to one day enter production.

Explaining the partnership further, Lotus CEO Phil Popham said, "Our new technology partnership with Williams Advanced Engineering is part of a strategy to expand our knowledge and capability in the rapidly changing automotive landscape. Applying advanced propulsion powertrains can provide numerous exciting solutions across multiple vehicle sectors. Our combined and complementary experiences make this a very compelling match of engineering talent, technical ability and pioneering British spirit." We couldn't agree more.

 

[glazbagun]

Lotus teaming up with a dying F1 team. Have seen it before.

[griffdude]

Is that Evora meant to look like a big Duracell?

[Europa1]

griffdude said:

Is that Evora meant to look like a big Duracell?

It's the Evora hybrid they build as a technology demonstrator a while ago.

[Fire99]

This may cause me to spontaneously combust but I think Dany Bahar was on the right track with his product line-up.

I find Lotus a bit 'wandering' around if I'm honest...

[Cold]

Europa1 said:

griffdude said:

Is that Evora meant to look like a big Duracell?

It's the Evora hybrid they build as a technology demonstrator a while ago.

That old E414 is up for sale should you wish to experiment.
https://www.lotusforsale.com/ads/lotus-evora-414e-...

[Futse]

griffdude said:

Is that Evora meant to look like a big Duracell?

Well yes... You know, electric car, batteries etc...

[jakesmith]

Cold said:

That old E414 is up for sale should you wish to experiment.
https://www.lotusforsale.com/ads/lotus-evora-414e-...

Bonkers that it is up for sale! Surely Lotus has enough heritage as a brand for that to be worth putting up in a museum or in their HQ or something
Does Lotus have an experience centre / day like Porsche?
SUrely from a commercial secrets point of view alone it isn't worth their while to flog it for such a tiny fragment of the development cost

[sgtBerbatov]

Plot twist: Geely buy out Williams, becomes Williams Lotus Volvo.

Or London Taxi International F1.

[Cold]

jakesmith said:

Cold said:

That old E414 is up for sale should you wish to experiment.
https://www.lotusforsale.com/ads/lotus-evora-414e-...

Bonkers that it is up for sale! Surely Lotus has enough heritage as a brand for that to be worth putting up in a museum or in their HQ or something
Does Lotus have an experience centre / day like Porsche?
SUrely from a commercial secrets point of view alone it isn't worth their while to flog it for such a tiny fragment of the development cost

Well, here's the thing. The E414 is already in private hands and is being sold by its current (no pun) owner. It's the same story for many of the heritage cars from the sell-off a couple of decades ago. Now that there's money kicking around Hethel there is talk of repurchasing a select few to rebuild the collection.

[leakymanifold]

Geely also have Volvo, who have sub-brand polestar doing things with electric propulsion. I wonder how this all links together? Are Lotus and Williams going to be leading the electric technology development for the group? if so what is polestar going to be contributing?

[arkenphel]

What is lotus doing build a £2m hypercar when their current lineup needs updating?

[Tuna]

leakymanifold said:

Geely also have Volvo, who have sub-brand polestar doing things with electric propulsion. I wonder how this all links together? Are Lotus and Williams going to be leading the electric technology development for the group? if so what is polestar going to be contributing?

The impression I get is Polestar are more Tesla S90, whereas Williams is more Porsche 918 Spyder.

Volvo, Williams and Lotus - VW/L group?

[Galileo]

The graphics on the glass surround look like two perplexed slugs. Read into that what you will.

[MX6]

I guess this partnership makes sence in terms of combining engineering expertise. Hybrid and electric car technology is surely the future. I'm not very excited about it, but I guess we will all be driving them (or they will be driving us) in the medium term, at least as daily drivers.

As someone who designs PCB's I always find it mildly amusing when I see cartoon circuit tracks and vias on products wanting to appear high tech, like those on that rear window glass above...

[suffolk009]

sgtBerbatov said:

Plot twist: Geely buy out Williams, becomes Williams Lotus Volvo.

Or London Taxi International F1.

Of all the daft ideas floating around that one is fairly sensible.

[Midgster]

So they're gonna make something like this then? 10 years after someone else did it to their own car!

[roland82]

Personally I don't think Lotus are doing well enough to be diverting resources to a £2 million quid hyper car. Oh well time will tell.

[DonkeyApple]

Do Lotus ‘add lightness’? The Lady Edition Porsche with all its neck warmers, electric seats, electric roof and roid warmers weighs pretty much the same as an Evora. Williams probably have more skill at keeping the lardy down.

The real benefit of the deal seems to be that struggling Williams gets to tap into Geely’s wallet?

[The Vambo]

Fire99 said:

This may cause me to spontaneously combust but I think Dany Bahar was on the right track with his product line-up.

I find Lotus a bit 'wandering' around if I'm honest...

I'm glad someone else has finally said it.

[Equus]

griffdude said:

Is that Evora meant to look like a big Duracell?

Galileo said:

The graphics on the glass surround look like two perplexed slugs. Read into that what you will.

The graphics and the colour are clearly intended as a reference to the appearance of a printed circuit board.

Some poor bd fresh out of a Degree in Automotive Design probably spent months working on that, and all you do is take the piss.