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.
Preview: Nissan’s EV due to hit the United States and Japan by 2010 0
Nissan gives a preview of the electric vehicle it will formally launch this August 2. The car will be the first EV the Japanese car maker will be releasing in Japan and the United States by 2010.
Nissan developed a new platform for the electric vehicle which can serve as the DNA for future models to be housed in the same design. The engine of the electric vehicle will be powered by lithium ion batteries.
The dedicated platform also allowed Nissan to be more liberal about the design and gave it an all electric vehicle look. As seen on the micro website prepared by Nissan, it seems that the production model of the EV will have a charging socket right on the front-center of the bonnet.
The electric powertrain can output about 109hp but with an amazing torque of 206lb-ft. The battery pack of the vehicle is installed on the floor. The car also uses regenerative braking power to charge the cells when the car slows down and stops.