New EV Caterham

[Ohio Enthusiast]

Apparently Caterham are planning on making an EV sports car. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...radical-design

Interesting tidbits:

While it was “just an idea in people’s heads” in September, plans have fast progressed and the new design will be showcased in the coming months as Caterham marks its 50th anniversary.
...
“The principle is always lightness,” Jannarelly told Autocar. “What everybody loves about the Seven is that it’s a simple car that just works, and even if we’re making an EV, we will try to apply the same philosophy. It’s very simple. There will be no fancy features. The main thing is your enjoyment in driving this car.
“We’re trying to make it as light as possible. So the performance which we will [get] out of it will be just great. And the driving pleasure is a consequence of this lightness. The key words are always simplicity, lightness and driving joy.”
...
“Like the Seven, it will have a steel spaceframe – but a different one – because they’re easy to modify in production if you need to. It will have a six-panel enveloping body in aluminium or carbonfibre: two sills, two doors plus clamshell openings front and rear. It will be prettier and more modern than a Seven – those will be big points of distinction – and maybe it will have a roof. We’re designing it as a pure EV from the start, with rear drive only, and it will be registered under SVA rules.”

It’s not yet clear if Caterham will reveal a concept car or a pre-production prototype this year, but Laishley hinted at a plan to build the EV in a new factory – recently opened in Dartford – at greater volumes than the Seven and for it to have a higher base price.

Caterham hasn’t suggested an on-sale date for the new car, but VT Holdings CEO Kazuho Takahashi’s eagerness to see it reach production suggests it could come as soon as 2026.

SVA (UK Single Vehicle Approval) is basically kit-car/ultra low volume approval. Fingers crossed the Caterham US would be able to bring it over as a kit, although one wonders where would the EV powertrain come from.

Looks like VT Holdings didn't fund Caterham to just keep producing Sevens. Honestly I'm pretty excited for this - if they can pull off a lightweight EV sports car that emphasizes pure fun I'd be very tempted to buy one.

[Stephen02]

I have to wonder how light it could really be. My understanding is that a pretty potent electric motor weighs less than and inline four and not having a trasmission, driveshaft or exhaust helps keep the weight down. However, the batteries are insanley heavy. The original Tesla roadster was 2877lbs(1305kg) while the Elise that it was based on weighed 1984lbs(900kg). I'm sure that battery technology has improved since 2008 but I don't know if they've gotten much lighter. I agree that a bare-bones EV that doesn't have an Ipad coming out of the dash would be pretty cool.

[Ohio Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by Stephen02

The original Tesla roadster was 2877lbs(1305kg) while the Elise that it was based on weighed 1984lbs(900kg).

A Seven weighs in at about 1,200 lbs, so the battery could be smaller for similar range and performance. Battery tech does improve, specifically Wh per kg. The original Roadster had 117 Wh/kg, today we're at around 300 Wh/kg. This would mean a 50 kWh battery would weigh 166 kgs instead of 427 kgs. That's on par with engine/transmission/gas.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Ohio Enthusiast

A Seven weighs in at about 1,200 lbs, so the battery could be smaller for similar range and performance. Battery tech does improve, specifically Wh per kg. The original Roadster had 117 Wh/kg, today we're at around 300 Wh/kg. This would mean a 50 kWh battery would weigh 166 kgs instead of 427 kgs. That's on par with engine/transmission/gas.

I've never heard of an EV battery being that light. The 40 kwh Leaf battery is 300kg, the 62 kwh is 400kg. The standard range model 3 50kw is over 300kg.

I found this little excprt too, though I have been seeing energy density ratings of newer batteries to be a bit better(assembled weight energy density over 200wh/kg) but this is from 22'.

For example, the estimated pack level energy density of the Tesla Model 3 is ~150 Wh/kg, while the energy density of the individual cells used in the pack, as reported by Panasonic, is ~265 Wh/kg

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by Stephen02

I have to wonder how light it could really be. My understanding is that a pretty potent electric motor weighs less than and inline four and not having a trasmission, driveshaft or exhaust helps keep the weight down. However, the batteries are insanley heavy. The original Tesla roadster was 2877lbs(1305kg) while the Elise that it was based on weighed 1984lbs(900kg). I'm sure that battery technology has improved since 2008 but I don't know if they've gotten much lighter. I agree that a bare-bones EV that doesn't have an Ipad coming out of the dash would be pretty cool.

You can't really compare the Roadster to a modern car. They took an Elise and modified it as opposed to building something with EV in mind as the base of the design. Lot less compromises when starting from scratch. I have no doubt Caterham will figure it out.

[Ohio Enthusiast]

Yeah, cell vs pack density is certainly an easy place to claim improvements without them being applicable for the end product.
Still, even if the advances are not that extreme, we're still better today than in the original Roadster with regard to EV battery weight. Plus we're talking about an even smaller and lighter base vehicle - an Elise tub is 150 lbs; a Seven chassis is around 50.
And yes, I'm aware Caterham are claiming no relation to the Seven, but they are planning on a spaceframe and it's reasonable to expect a Seven sized car.

[NoHaveMSG]

They could also make the pack structural to the frame which would help out a lot. Modern EV's do this.

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

They could also make the pack structural to the frame which would help out a lot. Modern EV's do this.

And if/when someone has a bit of a bingle the repair costs go through the roof.

[Irace86.2.0]

Interested because of Jannarelly and Caterham. This is like Colin Chapman building an EV sports car.

[Ohio Enthusiast]

Another EV coming from Caterham, this time an EV Seven prototype not meant for production. The interesting bit is that it weighs in at 1540 lbs with a 51 kWh battery (with 40 kWh usable) and 240 HP/180 lbf with an LSD. I'd say this bodes well for their planned EV sports car.

[alex87f]

Originally Posted by Captain Snooze

And if/when someone has a bit of a bingle the repair costs go through the roof.

Collision with structural damage =/= bit of a bingle.

[Stephen W.]

The latest from PistonHeads. Some new images showing the layout.


https://www.pistonheads.com/news/Cat...20Smart%20List

[JD001]

I think that Caterham may go down the mid-engined EV route. I would not be surprised if it has the same footprint as the series 1 Elise or even the Elise 'reborn'. Tesla did it with the Lotus platform, perhaps it was too ahead of the game at the time.

[Stephen W.]

Here ya go, right from the Cat's mouth so to speak.
https://caterhamcars.com/en/models/evseven