At the next Goodwood Festival of Speed, which will take place in July 2023, Caterham will present two electric prototypes of its famous Seven.
Caterham does not intend to stop the marketing of the Seven, which imagines a new life in electric with two prototypes. These are equipped with a latest generation Seven chassis, a 50 kWh battery and a 240 horsepower motor housed in the usual location of the trunk. The objective will be to match the performance of the thermal equivalent, with 3.4 seconds to go from 0 to 100 km/h.
The electric Caterham Seven should weigh 701 kilograms, against 626 for the thermal Seven. Which makes it the lightest electric car in the world.
However, the on-board charging network needed to enable DC charging would have added weight and taken up space on the vehicle. That’s why the prototypes rely on a custom-built 150kW charging system that Caterham will deploy to the tracks as the cars roll.
Small detail that is important, the new models have been prepared by Swindon Powertrain. With this partnership, the objective is clear: to build two prototypes of electric Sevens designed to run on the circuit. As Caterham CEO Bob Laishley reminds us, creating an electric vehicle capable of meeting the demands of a racing circuit is ” a real challenge ».
Nevertheless, the boss of the brand is convinced that this new electric model will keep the promises of the brand and will be faithful to the values and the heritage of Caterham. He is pointing out that ” we go to the basics and we match the performance of a car that already exists. We do everything to be faithful to the emblematic model ».
The electric Seven will not be marketed immediately. Bob Laishley says he wants to wait for the right moment and be able to make one ” argument commercial “. After this presentation at Goodwood, the prototypes will be used as demonstrators. In short, for the moment we can expect a simple electric sports car where the main thing is driving pleasure.
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