Caterham EV Seven Concept Debuts With 237 HP, 51-kWh Battery, Seven 420 Cup Tech

Today, the British automaker has unveiled the EV Seven, a concept vehicle that previews a fully electric Caterham developed and engineered in partnership with Swindon Powertrain (SP). The concept is based on the larger Seven chassis and comes with a bespoke version of SP’s E Axle, to go with an immersion-cooled battery pack.

The point here? To build a battery-electric production model that is as driver-focused and track-capable as its gasoline-powered counterpart.

Now, before we get into all the technical stuff, let’s touch on the visuals first. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the concept is immediately identifiable as a Caterham, and on a personal note, we quite love what they did with the presentation livery – using the word ‘sEVen’ to highlight the letters E and V. It’s like when Marvel Studios highlighted ‘HER’ in ‘HERO’ in the original Captain Marvel trailer featuring Brie Larson.

What to expect?

Well, as far as immersion battery cooling is concerned, what that means is you’ve got dielectric fluid coming in contact with the cells, enabling superior thermal management during charge and discharged cycles. Until recently, this technology has only been used to cool supercomputers, which generate massive amounts of heat.

The best part, though, is that compared to the current production Seven model, the EV Seven concept weighs just 154 lbs (70 kg) more, meaning the total mass of the car is just under 1,543 lbs (700 kg) – not bad at all. Meanwhile, the 51-kWh battery is housed in the engine bay and transmission tunnel, and it features DC rapid charging capability (up to 152 kW), to go with its useable capacity of roughly 40 kWh.

The goal here was to have a battery pack capable of withstanding a lot of track usage plus rapid charging back-to-back without any premature degradation.

In terms of performance, the concept produces 237 hp (240 ps) at 9,000 rpm and 184 lb-ft (250 Nm) of instantaneous torque. That may not sound like a lot, but it’s enough to get the EV Seven from zero to 60 mph (97 kph) in 4.0 seconds flat. Other highlights include a limited slip differential, regenerative braking, quad-piston brake calipers and adjustable Bilstein dampers sourced from the Seven 420 Cup model.

As for track usage, when the fully electric Seven finally reaches production, Caterham claims that you can extract repeatable 20-15-20 drive cycles from it, meaning you can drive on the track for 20 minutes and then recharge in 15 minutes with enough juice for another 20-minute run.

“Any future EV model we produce must be true to the DNA of a Caterham: lightweight, fun-to-drive and driver-focused. The main objective for this project is to develop a vehicle with a weight delta of no more than the equivalent of having a passenger on board. We’re never going to launch a one tonne Seven – we’d rather not do it,” stated company CEO Bob Laishley.

The EV Seven concept is scheduled to make its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July, and as if that wasn’t exciting enough, Caterham will also reveal another fully electric sports car concept later this year.