VIDEO: Dutch firms begin flood of electric cars with converted Lotus Elises
A consortium of Dutch companies under the banner of Electric Cars Europe have decided a little collaboration is in order to help speed up the implementation of electric cars in the Netherlands. With a vision of seeing 26 per cent of Dutch cars powered by electrons by 2025, the consortium's plan has several parts, the first of which involves some conversion of several Lotus Elise vehicles to an electric drivetrain by partner company, Innosys Engineering. Isn't it a little strange how Lotus has become the "go to" company when you want to build, or even just convert, an electric sports car these days? But I digress.
The next order of business is to take €100 million already invested and metamorphose a couple hundred Volkswagen Golfs from liquid fuel to solid state. All of these vehicles, as well as some future models, are to be monitored by energy company, Essent, as part of large-scale testing of their "Mobile Smart Grid." This is a "smart" distribution system that will make the move to electric personal transportation more feasible by tracking how much power you need and when you need it. It can also bill you for what you use regardless of where you plug in.
To read about a somewhat surprising twist to their next phase as well as test your working knowledge of Dutch and watch some electric Lotus Elise action, hit the jump. As an extra bonus we've also tagged on an extra video from Innosys Engineering that shows off what they've accomplished to the syncopated rhythms of a funky soundtrack.
* Added another video showing more of the orange Elise on the track
Another interesting bit in this plan is the phase following the Volkswagen conversions. In 2009, ECE will import a sub-compact model made by Detroit Electric (a joint venture between ZAP! and Youngman Automotive of China). If you go to the ECE website and click on "De Modellen" then hover your mouse over Detroit Electric sub-compact, a picture of a car as well as some specs will appear on the fly-out. Clicking on "Meer Modellen" on the bottom right of the page will show you the other three ZAP models they also plan to import. The ZAP-X, the ZAP Alias, and an unpictured but spec'd out midsize sedan/hatchback. The X and the mystery mid-size model seem to have the a 2010 due date attached to them. It doesn't appear to state when the Alias is expected to arrive but we heard recently that the chassis prototype was finished and should have been delivered to the company's Santa Rosa headquarters by now. Given their prior fondness for informing the world of the daily minutia of life at Zapworld, surprisingly no press release has been issued by ZAP or Detroit Electric about their European plans or the progress of the Alias. We hope we hear from them soon and in the meantime, wish all involved parties the best of luck.
Special thanks to Matthijs at Aptera forum whose post initiated this.
[Source: Minds in Motion / De Voltskrant (with Google translate help) via Green Car Congress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Throwback 12:20PM (6/24/2008)
The reason Lotus is so popular among the electric car wannabees is light weight. The Elise platform is incredibly light and strong. For Lotus it highlights their engineering.
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ddub 1:55PM (6/24/2008)
Everytime there's a mention of Zap there also seems to be a lack of info on what there doing. I always feel like I should run over there and find out since I live in Santa Rosa. But then I remember I'm too lazy.
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jake 2:21PM (6/24/2008)
It's really light on details on how much power, acceleration, range, price that could be expected of these electric elises. Only mention was 200bhp. It'll be a good idea to keep watch on this.
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Joseph 5:19PM (6/24/2008)
Their association with ZAP kind of kills it...
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Doug 5:41PM (6/24/2008)
I'd like to see how they package the batteries in there.
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Stijn 6:08AM (6/25/2008)
I'm Dutch and was therefor able to understand the commentary. The company Innosys designed the Nuon Solar cars battery managment and motors, which won the Australian Solar races several times in a row. They have now converted five cars for this newly founded Essent concortium.
I just love their pragmatic approach, very Dutch. As the Dutch saying goes: "no talk, but action" (sort of ;-))
I've been following the blog on this great website for some time now. Personally I can't get my head around the fact that there are several companies out their who will convert any ordenary car into an EV. While at the other end of the scale Tesla needs to spend years of R&D even to produce just a single car from the ground up, (good on them for doing it though). There is a middle ground here, by using a donor car, and coverting these as a mass product. Innosys has used a Daihatsu Cuore, which would, in my mind be a perfect affordable Ev for a mass market. I'd have one tomorrow, anyway.
Check out their website, which is mainly in English.
http://www.innosysengineering.com/innocar.htm
Cheers,
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Matthijs 9:31PM (6/25/2008)
@ 3: The Dutch site ececars.nl states the following for the elise:
Battery: Lithium-Ion Bio-degradable (Li-Po)
Performance: 150Kw 0-62 in 4.7 seconds
Topspeed: 215km/h = 134mph
Gears: 4
Range: 325km = 202 miles per change
Price: 108.350 Euro incl. Taxes.
I've got an email from oct. 11 2007 with a pdf file on the Lotus car with all the specs here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?c99yycm6b13
The only thing unsure is the Detroit Electric Subcompact that they want to sell for 22.491 euro. There is no info on that car anywhere else. Even the Daihatsu Cuore seen in the video is a couple of years old.
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Matthijs 9:37PM (6/25/2008)
They also state that the ZAP Alias can be delivered right away. Well that can't be correct. Also I am very skeptical on the ranges of the cars that will need a large battery pack to boot and the prices they will be asking. It seems to good to be true. But I really hope they can pull it off!
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