Lotus’ Drawing Boards Show off a potential city car EV concept 1

Automotive Engineer magazine commissioned the design team of Lotus to come up with a concept that may live up to the EV expectations of being a city-centric vehicle.

The magazine team wanted to sea what the future city car can look like being an all purpose, functional, and efficient electric vehicle. The demand is changing to smaller engine vehicles which can help consumers save money through better fuel efficiency.

Automotive Engineer challenged the Lotus Design team to improve on the design of the Toyota iQ and Smart ForTwo. The two teams had a brainstorming session to know about some technical aspects and basically have a brief of the idea.

It was agreed that the car should be able to take 2 people with luggage or at max 4 people. The requirements set are not really for the off road kind of ride but more of an average European drive. The EV will be designed to run on a cruising speed of 40mph and a top speed of about 65mph.

The design concept is milder than the electric vehicles rolling off the garage of Tesla which can boost to 200 miles per hour or more. Coincidentally, these EVs were designed.

The concept EV by Lotus and Automotive Engineer may end up needing only a 50hp electric motor running with a 10kWh battery. The design of the body will call for bonded aluminum paneling which can be used modularly which can give way to a size closer to the Smart ForTwo and the Toyota iQ.

The outcome of the collaboration is just a product of two-weeks of work which is a normal early phase of concept car work.