When you think of Lotus, a small, not necessarily powerful vehicle, is about the last thing that comes to mind. Well, should Lotus take on the challenge of creating a city car, then this is how it would look like.
The little brainstorming session at the end of which the Lotus City Car came to be took place after Automotive Engineer magazine asked the head of Lotus Design, Russell Carr, to imagine how a future City Car would look like and, even better, how could Lotus improve on the smart fortwo and Toyota iQ.
And here is the result. A four seater vehicle, short as an usual city car, yet lower than most of its possible competitors. Building on the advantages given by its small size, Carr dreamt up sliding doors instead of regular ones. The glass roof and large rear window complete the aspect of the car.
Being drawn for the future, Lotus City Car had only a handful of choices for its powertrain, yet none seemed to make more sense than an electric one. But, unlike its EV sister, a Lotus City Car would be as easy to drive as a shopping cart.
Powered by a single motor developing 30 kW, the City Car has nothing conventional in it. It is electrically steered with two blocks of four 10 kW/each batteries, installed in a sandwich floor. To add to the range of the batteries, the glass roof we were mentioning earlier is embedded with solar cells.
The Lotus City Car has a drivetrain designed to be as user-friendly as it gets. The single electric motor is mated to a reduction gear and a single button, which is to be used to make the car go forward or backwards.
The little brainstorming session at the end of which the Lotus City Car came to be took place after Automotive Engineer magazine asked the head of Lotus Design, Russell Carr, to imagine how a future City Car would look like and, even better, how could Lotus improve on the smart fortwo and Toyota iQ.
And here is the result. A four seater vehicle, short as an usual city car, yet lower than most of its possible competitors. Building on the advantages given by its small size, Carr dreamt up sliding doors instead of regular ones. The glass roof and large rear window complete the aspect of the car.
Being drawn for the future, Lotus City Car had only a handful of choices for its powertrain, yet none seemed to make more sense than an electric one. But, unlike its EV sister, a Lotus City Car would be as easy to drive as a shopping cart.
Powered by a single motor developing 30 kW, the City Car has nothing conventional in it. It is electrically steered with two blocks of four 10 kW/each batteries, installed in a sandwich floor. To add to the range of the batteries, the glass roof we were mentioning earlier is embedded with solar cells.
The Lotus City Car has a drivetrain designed to be as user-friendly as it gets. The single electric motor is mated to a reduction gear and a single button, which is to be used to make the car go forward or backwards.