Lotus has secured financial support from the UK government to develop an all-new electric vehicle (EV) platform.
The funding will come from the government-backed Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) following Lotus’s winning application in the Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator competition.
Lotus won with its Lightweight Electric Vehicle Architecture (LEVA), which is planned to serve as “a showcase for pioneering new BEV chassis and powertrain concepts” and underpin a range of next-generation EVs.
The platform will be further developed in partnership with lightweight engineering specialist Sarginsons Industries alongside a team of academics from Brunel University London.
Lotus says it will confirm further details of the LEVA platform in due course.
Matt Windle, executive director of engineering at Lotus, said: “This is great news for our industry and its transition to electrification. As a collaboration between Lotus, Sarginsons Industries and Brunel University London, there's a wealth of talent involved, and we're excited to have already begun the project work.
“Following the launch of the Lotus Evija, our all-electric hypercar, this project is a key building block in our vision to deliver a full range of electrified Lotus performance cars for the drivers.
"Funding of this nature is critical to stimulate the automotive industry and supply chain as both continue to adjust to a rapidly changing landscape.”
Lotus is set to in 2021 unwrap its first all-new model in 12 years, sitting atop a new rivet-bonded platform and powered by a hybridised petrol V6.
The Norfolk-based, Geely-owned firm is also expecting to begin deliveries of the Evija midway through next year.
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Government Supports What?
With a billionaire owner and multiple EV platforms being developed by multiple divisions within the Geely group, all shared amongst the various brands, and yet the UK government has to pay money to Geely to build an EV platform for Lotus. this sounds like a large scam. how a billionaire remains a billionaire, not spending his own money. Disgusting.
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Jesus Christ, can some people please just do a basic bit of research before hitting save on a load of bullcrap?
Lotus are one of a number companies that will be sharing in £10 million of grant money that has been awarded to companies in the UK, only, with EV R&D projects in late stage of development. I assume you realise how small a pool that actually is?
The grant was brought in to help companies and institutions where work had stalled, or was in danger of stalling, due to the pandemic. It is a one-off.
They cannot hold onto the money, they had to demonstate how the money will be spent in respect of their proposal, they will be audited, and they must be able to demonstrate the results of their work at next year's CENEX show and how they will have accellerated their development. The grant will be released in tranches related to progress. For a small outlay this may well have saved jobs across a number of companies. May even have helped to create a few. From this one grant award, two companies and an academic institution, in the UK, will benefit in a way they likely will not have done, risking development and talent (current and growing) being lost to elsewhere.
Sigh
It does come down to the UK taxpayer funding research that would go to Lotus, and then to Geely. If the funding has "stalled", does that mean Geely has run out of cash? Lotus is just a label for Geely who have their own research and development programmes in Sweden and China, there is no need for UK money to help them whatsoever. Spread the money to where it will benefit the UK only.
I understand your points,...
...but didn't the article say "winning application"? I may be wrong, but doesn't that imply two things: they submitted their own planned architecture and their were other companies competing. Hasn't other companies who have foreign ownership, won this award and funding in the past? I think the emphasis is on using and funding LOCAL, home grown talent to develop these technologies of tomorrow, so that other companies come to the UK to take advantage of the talent pool (as a centre of excellence). Since these young engineers live and work in the UK, the funds provide return to the UK. The challenge will be, after all the work on Lotus' winning application is done, keeping these young minds to from being swept away by other organizations in other parts of the world. After all that training and UK investment, someone else may see poaching such young mind as a steal both literally and physically! At my job we train people all the time, but after a couple of years, when they are the most valuable to us, many find jobs doing the same thing, but twice the money and less work, so we can't keep them. In my opinion we've become a paid internship! So I don't think it's the UK funding on the winning application, but its keeping the local, home grown talent from the schools the funding is associated with, from leaving the nest after such training!