The article should be called "How Lotus is going to build electric sports cars" - as there's absolutely no detail given on how they're going to make them more lightweight than current concepts?
The options discussed are batteries under the floor vs. mid-rear batteries behind the driver in a two-seater... but these still require lots of cells, and in the absence of other innovation, still therefore presumably carry a major weight penalty vs. ICE, as with all current EVs?
The direct comment from Lotus comes closest to providing some details ("...significant weight savings have been achieved throughout... for example, by utilizing the vehicle structure as the battery enclosure, having an integrated EDU, eliminating subframes and optimizing the multi-link suspension components.") - but this is essentially fairly standard vehicle engineering, and doesn't innovate around the weight of the battery at all.
(I'm not being contrary here - FWIW I own both a Lotus and an EV - but this just seems like weak journalism from a PR release.)
The options discussed are batteries under the floor vs. mid-rear batteries behind the driver in a two-seater... but these still require lots of cells, and in the absence of other innovation, still therefore presumably carry a major weight penalty vs. ICE, as with all current EVs?
The direct comment from Lotus comes closest to providing some details ("...significant weight savings have been achieved throughout... for example, by utilizing the vehicle structure as the battery enclosure, having an integrated EDU, eliminating subframes and optimizing the multi-link suspension components.") - but this is essentially fairly standard vehicle engineering, and doesn't innovate around the weight of the battery at all.
(I'm not being contrary here - FWIW I own both a Lotus and an EV - but this just seems like weak journalism from a PR release.)