2010 Paris: Lotus City Car Concept hints at future urban range-extending EV

Posted: Oct 01, 2010
    Email 1 Comment

Lotus City Car Concept

Prior to the 2010 Paris Motor Show, Lotus talked about the ‘dawn of a new era’ for the company and with five new concept cars, a new era it was. The new Louts Elite concept showed a new GT car; the Lotus Elise concept showed a more ‘grown up’ version of the sports car; the Lotus Elan concept previewed a model that would most likely replace the Evora; the Lotus Esprit concept previewed the next-generation that will debut sometime in 2013; and the Lotus Eterne concept showed a sedan planned for production in 2015.

But hiding under all those big debuts was a little City Car concept (pictured here). The concept, which has a possible name known as Ethos, is an urban range-extending electric city vehicle. Power comes from an electric motor that produces 72-hp and 177 lb-ft of torque. Weighing in at less than 3,086 pounds (not very Lotus-like), the City Car has the ability to run from 0 to 62 mph in 9 seconds with a top speed of 106 mph. With a full charge of its 14.8 kWh battery pack, the compact urban vehicle can travel a total of 37 miles until the charge runs out. Once the battery pack is depleted, a flex-fuel 1.2L 3-cylinder engine kicks in making 47-hp and increasing range to 310 miles.

The City Car concept (aka Ethos) is still not confirmed for production but if given the thumbs up, price s will start around $30,000.

We guess the Aston Martin Cygnet better look out.

Lotus City Car Concept:

- By: Omar Rana


Share |  Email  Print |

Tags: , , , , , ,



Subscribe & Connect

Connect with us on any of our social profiles below.

Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter to receive updates.

  • Lotusacbc

    Lotus has been at the forefront of future technology since Colin Chapman Himself established his company name as a premiere sports car company in 1948. Lotus’s philosophy of efficiency through light weight has been mocked by the same group of people who demand each new car today be built with gadgets and luxuries that do nothing more than make the driver increasingly uninvolved, driving the price of cars upwards and worse of all making robotic drivers and by adding such “luxuries” adding weight to the vehicles to a point where fuel mileage suffers. Lotus’s core values should be the leader for all manufacturers, especially considering the state of the world where dwindling oil supplies and co2 emissions threaten the future of the combustion engine and the luxury “sport car” niche market. It is a sad case where 90% of vehicles made today and especially the most popular, see best sellers, of today weigh more than 4,000 lbs, and are becoming increasingly heavier, I question when exactly car manufacturers will come to the realization that lighter is the way to go and not every year upping the horsepower on their cars. For example, how much more horsepower can they possibly fit into a regular everyday car? Lotus understands this and being an engineering company first and foremost they will no doubt pave the path to a new future of automobile. I can see the future now, and it entails many a car manufacture stumbling at the heels of this great company. Bravo Lotus, well done on the city car concept. I await the launch of this car with great anticipation as I am sure many others share the same enthusiasm.