Kent-headquartered Caterham unveils vision for future all electric Seven

Kent-headquartered car maker Caterham has unveiled an all electric prototype of its Seven vehicle, which it says remains true to the company's guiding principles, namely, to be fun, simple and lightweight.

The EV Seven is being engineered in collaboration with Swindon Powertrain Ltd and is based on the larger Seven chassis and features a bespoke version of the latter's E Axle, combined with an immersion cooled battery pack.

The car's weight is under 700 kg; it has an estimated top speed of 130 mph, and its performance is estimated to be 0-60 mph in four seconds.

Bob Laishley, CEO of Caterham, said: "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."

The company said any electric Seven must be useable on both the road and track.

And for the latter, this means being capable of a repeatable 20-15-20 drive cycle. In other words, the ability to drive on track for 20 minutes, recharge in 15 minutes with enough energy to drive for a further 20 minutes.

Laishley added: "Building a Seven that’s capable of a Sunday morning drive is achievable with current battery technology, but the challenge is for track use where the energy consumption is greatly increased.

"At the moment, immersion battery cooling is one of the best solutions in terms of coping with the rapid charge and discharge cycles that would be experienced on a race track."

The Caterham boss said there were no plans to put EV Seven into production currently and the project was a "test bed" to see how well an EV powertrain works for the firm's customers’ specific use cases.
"We’re doing this project with our eyes wide open so that we can learn how to deliver the specific

Caterham vehicle attributes necessary for a Seven: lightweight, simple and fun to drive.
"We’re going to bring this to market at the right time, when the future generation of battery technology allows it, and that’s why now is the time for us to trial the concept," he added.

Raphaël Caillé, managing director of Swindon Powertrain Ltd, said: "Our history of working with Caterham spans more than three decades – we developed the Vauxhall engine used in the JPE [Jonathan Palmer Evolution] edition Seven in the early 1990s, and we’re thrilled to be able to continue this partnership today through our work on this exciting project."

The EV Seven concept will make its public debut at Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK in July this year.

Caterham, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, said it is also developing another fully electric sports car concept that it will reveal this year. This design is being led by the brand’s new chief designer, Anthony Jannarelly, and further details will be announced in coming months.

Caterham is owned by Japanese retail group VT Holdings, which has served as a Caterham importer since 2009.