Lotus ready to dump internal combustion engines

Lotus says it is ready to abandon internal combustion engines and shift its focus to produce zero-emission pure-electric vehicles.

Claimed to be the biggest shake-up in the British sportscar-maker's 72-year history, Lotus' EV plan follows its big investment in the creation of the million-dollar Lotus Evija hypercar.

Originally, it was thought that Lotus -- like many of its rivals -- would embrace electrification by introducing 48-volt mild-hybrid and full plug-in hybrid powertrains, but according to CEO Phil Popham, the UK firm says it will skip hybrids altogether and go straight to full EVs instead.

Speaking to

“BEV is really well suited to sports cars – the torque characteristics, the weight distribution, design and flexibility of dynamics. For me it all leads to BEV as the ultimate technology for sports cars."

Before the battery-powered range of Lotus sports cars arrives, insiders have confirmed Lotus will produce at least one more conventional sports car powered by a petrol engine – but it will be the last Lotus ever to drink dino-juice.

Once production of the 130-unit, $3 million Evija has finished, Lotus will introduce its first 'affordable' pure-electric sports car in 2022.

Rumoured to be priced at around £100,000 ($A185,000), the Lotus EV sports car is set to challenge the likes of the Porsche 911 and the upcoming Tesla Roadster.

According to Popham, switching to EV-making is only possible thanks to its well-financed parent, Geely: "The money that is going into product development is something we could never, ever afford to do on our own if we hadn’t got the ambitious owner that we have."

Despite plenty of hybrid know-how within Geely and its sister brand Volvo, electrified petrol powertrains have been ruled out by Lotus because of the weight and packaging challenges they bring.

Even though they're heavier than petrol or diesel-powered cars, EVs are more in line with the Lotus philosophy as it allows greater freedom when it comes to designing cars and where to put the batteries and electric motors.

Lotus is investing in EV platforms as well as pure-electric powertrains, with the new generation of battery-powered sports cars set to sit on an all-new vehicle architecture.

It's not been confirmed if the new platform will be specific to Lotus or shared with Geely. Popham's claim that the platform will be capable of being able to "support multiple cars" suggests the latter.