Lotus Designs Smart Fortwo Sized All-Electric Mini Car Concept

From the make-believe world of 'What if...' comes our next story on a concept proposal for an all-electric mini car from Lotus. However, what makes this project stand out from the usual independently styled concepts is the fact that it was actually designed by Lotus. See, Automotive Engineer magazine asked the British sports carmaker to come up with a concept vehicle to show how far city car design could go.

The result is an extremely compact-sized mini car equipped with a 37kW-strong electric motor. Like many other EVs, power is provided by a 10kW lithium-ion battery pack which is positioned under the floor and can be recharged in three-and-a-half hours through a standard household 13A plug. The vehicle would have a range of around 50 km or 30 miles while it would be able to reach a top speed close to 65mph or 105km/h.

At just 2,600 mm or 102.4-in. in length, 1,600 mm or 63-in. wide, 1,700 mm or 67-in. in height and with a wheelbase of 2,000 mm or 78.7-in. the Lotus designed mini is roughly the same size as the two-seater Smart Fortwo and quite smaller than the 3+1 seater Toyota iQ.

Nevertheless, Hethel's designers say that mini can seat up to four people, albeit the two rear passengers will most likely feel like a pack of sardines. Alternatively, the rear seats can be folded to provide a luggage space. Driver and passengers would enter the car through a pair of sliding side doors.

The mini car would use an aluminum spaceframe in the floor while according to Russell Carr, head of Lotus Design, the body would be pressed aluminum or composite materials, depending on the sales volume.

Lotus points out that the design for the mini car was completed in approximately two weeks instead of the typical concept phase that lasts between three and six months, meaning that the project is a more of a rough sketch than anything else. And just to prevent any sort of rumors, the magazine says that vehicle wasn't designed as a Lotus city car but as a concept that could be developed for a third-party automaker.

Via: Automotive Engineer

VIDEO: Lotus Elan Concept’s Digital Instrument Panel in Action

The Lotus Elan was one of five concept sports cars presented by Lotus at last year's Paris Auto Show while it also made a quick stop at the LA motorshow that followed in November. Now that the concept studies have made it back to the England, the folks over at Paultan visited the British firm's headquarters in Hethel and shot this video showing the Elan's digital instruments in action. The panel consists of a large LCD screen flanked on either side by two smaller components. You can watch the video clip after the jump.

New Photo Gallery of Lotus' Future Sports Car Lineup

You may have to ask a second time for their name and you probably need to take more than a couple of looks to tell them apart, but that doesn't mean we're not impressed by the next generation of Lotus sports cars.

Unveiled for the first time as concept studies at the Paris Motor Show in October, with the North American debut taking place at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, the new Elise, Esprit, Elite, Elan are a wild bunch. And while we don't have anything new to add about the four sports coupes, Lotus has unleashed a beautiful photo gallery shot in Hollywood, which you can enjoy in high-resolution quality right after the jump.

Lotus CEO Says Concept City Car will Enter Production in "October 2013"

It appears that Aston Martin won't be the only British sports car maker to have a controversial small city car in its range. Lotus chief executive Dany Bahar told Car magazine that the Concept City Car, which was previewed at the recent Paris Motor Show alongside five sports car studies, has been approved for production. The comapny's CEO said the car will be manufactured in cooperation with Lotus parent company Proton and an undisclosed third party.

"Our city car has been confirmed and will be launched in October 2013," Mr. Bahar told the British magazine. "We are doing this together with Proton and another OEM [original equipment manufacturer, or car maker]. We will build three versions: one for the Asian market, one for Europe and a sportier one."

The Lotus flavored Concept City Car is based on one of the three Giugiaro-penned Proton EMAS design studies, which were first shown in Geneva earlier this year.

Built on a platform that was designed in-house by Italdesign Giugiaro, the EV concept model features a 45 kW (75kW peak power) electric motor that can be recharged by a 1.2 liter 3-cylinder engine. The hybrid plug-in drive system was developed entirely by Lotus. Unlike the front-wheel drive iQ-Cygnet, British supermini gets a rear-wheel drive setup.

With a total vehicle weight of less than 1400 kg [3,086 lbs] and 240 Nm [177 lb-ft] of torque instantly available, the City Car concept is said to complete the 0 - 50 km/h sprint in 4.5 seconds and the 0 - 100 km/h [62 mph] in 9 seconds, when operating as an EV under battery power. The top speed is pegged at 170 km/h, [105mph] with a charge sustaining top speed of 120 km/h [63 mph].

The pure electric drive range is 50 km or 31 miles, but can be extended to a total of 500 km or 311 miles when the petrol engine kicks. Lotus claims that the drivetrain returns CO2 emissions of 60 g/km.

Mr. Bahar did not say if the production model will keep the concept's extended-range hybrid drivetrain or if Lotus will offer the car with a traditional petrol engine as well.

Lotus City Car Concept Specifications

Layout: 3-door, 4-seater, rear-wheel drive
Drivetrain Series hybrid drivetrain
Range extender engine 35 kW, 1.2-litre, 3-cylinder engine
Engine fuel Flex-fuel (methanol, ethanol and petrol)
Battery Capacity 14.8 kWh
Power/Torque 162 kW peak (54 kW continuous)/240 Nm, 0-50 km/h 4.5 seconds, 0-100 km/h 9.0 seconds
Top speed 170km/h
Range 500 km
EV range 60km
CO2 emissions 60g/km on the ECE-R101 cycle
Weight Less than 1400 kg
Transmission Single-speed transmission