Caterham planning new all-electric sports car

British sports car-maker Caterham is reportedly planning to offer an all-new battery-electric coupe in 2026 alongside the current Caterham Seven roadster.

Caterham chief executive Bob Laishley told Autocar that the new EV is not a replacement for the current Seven, but is being created to complement the lightweight sports car that’s been in production since 1973.

If greenlit for production, the new EV will be based on a new dedicated platform and feature a rear-mounted electric motor that will drive the rear wheels.

Laishley didn’t specify battery size, but said the unnamed sports car must be capable of “20-15-20 performance”.

That means it must be capable of delivering 20 minutes of track driving on a full charge and able to be fully recharged in 15 minutes before providing another 20 minutes of flat-out driving.

Laishley says if his designers and engineers can’t deliver a car with 20-15-20 levels of performance, he won’t build it.

Following on from the stillborn Caterham C120 sports car that was supposed to have been co-developed and twinned with the Alpine A110, Laishley said his ideal spec for the new EV would be a car with a roof but a kerb weight of less than 700kg.

Despite its featherweight mass, the new EV will offer safety tech that’s not offered on a Caterham Seven, including ABS, electronic stability control and autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with lane departure warning.

To achieve its weight target, Caterham is expected to develop a steel space-frame that will be combined with an ultra-lightweight aluminium or carbon-fibre body, with the Kent-based car-maker set to favour a front and rear clamshell design.

There’s no word if the Caterham will be a traditional coupe or feature a removeable roof and mimic a roadster like the Lotus Elise.

What won’t be on the menu is combustion engine power or even a plug-in hybrid powertrain.

Laishley says a hybrid has been ruled out over its excess baggage as it requires two separate powertrains.

With the arrival of the new Caterham, Laishley hopes to boost production from 2021’s 500 cars to at least 1500.

Meanwhile, despite a looming combustion ban in the UK in 2030, the Caterham boss said its core Seven range will remain combustion-powered even beyond that date to at least 2034, thanks to strong demand from export markets.

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