Nyobolt EV pays homage to Lotus’ finest while demonstrating tech that promises to ‘eliminate slow and inconvenient recharge stops’

Nyobolt, a UK-based engineering firm working to develop ultra-fast-charging electric car batteries, first revealed its Lotus Elise S1-inspired concept car last year. The car was penned by Julian Thomson, designer of the iconic 1990s original, and has been developed with help from CALLUM, famous designer Ian Callum’s engineering and design firm.

Now, Nyobolt has announced that its prototype is being used to test its ulta-fast charging technology – and that eight OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) are in talks to use the technology in their own electric performance cars.

Nyobolt says that its car can charge from 10 to 80 per cent – a benchmark measurement for EVs – in under five minutes, twice as fast as the leading EVs today. Crucially, Nyobolt also claims that this speed is achieved without the degradation usually found with lithium-ion batteries when fast charging. According to Nyobolt, its batteries use ‘next-generation patented carbon and metal oxide anode materials’ and an ‘innovative low impedance cell design’ to help achieve this.

The reimagined design takes that of the Lotus Elise and makes it wider, longer and lower, with a more aggressive take on the original’s compact proportions. Nyobolt claims that its new technology makes its batteries ‘smaller and lighter’ than is usually the case, with the new car weighing in at 1,250kg – far more in-keeping with a traditional sports car than many contemporary EVs.

While it’s still not clear if we’ll see the Nyobolt EV itself hit the road as a production car, the good news for sports car enthusiasts is that its lightweight technology could help many others make it to production.

“We can enable OEMs to build excitement back into the segment, which is literally weighed down by legacy battery technology currently,” said Shane Davies, Nyobolt’s director of vehicle battery systems. “Our Nyobolt EV demonstrates the efficiency gains facilitated by our fast-charging, longer-life battery technology, enabling capacity to be right-sized while still delivering the required performance,”

For more information, visit www.nyobolt.com