In an era where the EV hype machine keeps cranking out hypothetical products every five minutes, a rendering of an electric sports car is usually something to ponder for a moment, then discard. After all, for every EV startup that’s failed, dozens more promise vaporware. However, every so often, a beautiful anomaly happens known as follow-through. British battery firm Nyobolt has actually built an electric sports car, and on paper, it’s amazing.
Let’s start by addressing how the Nyobolt prototype looks. With this project, Callum, the design firm run by Ian Callum of Jaguar fame, has done a solid job modernizing the styling language of the original Lotus Elise. While not as shrink-wrapped as the original, larger intakes, new lighting signatures, and shapelier curves make this prototype an obvious descendant of sports car royalty.
However, the real story is the curb weight — just 2,747 pounds. That’s 68 pounds lighter than a Subaru BRZ and 205 pounds lighter than a Honda Civic Si. Considering electric cars are typically heavier that combustion-powered ones, how has Nyobolt done that? Well, part of it is due to starting with something exceptionally light. This thing is certainly inspired by, and use some significant parts from, the Lotus Elise, and that thing tipped the scales at less than 2,000 pounds in many European trims. Feathery stuff.
Then there’s the fact that Nyobolt went with a fairly small 35 kWh battery pack, five kWh smaller than the one in a base Nissan Leaf. That means a range of 155 miles, and while that isn’t an impressive figure, charging speeds of up to 350 kW promise to make that up on the back end. Nyobolt claims a 10-to-80 percent charging time of four minutes, 37 seconds under ideal conditions, which is absolutely blazing quick.
What’s more, the firm has tested its battery pack to 4,000 complete DC fast charging cycles, or the equivalent of 600,000 miles of rated range. At the end of that testing cycle, Nyobolt claims a usable remaining capacity of more than 80 percent, meaning this pack seems to be built to last.
Of course, the flipside to being able to push a ton of current into a battery pack is that it’s easy to pull a ton of current out of it. This sports car prototype produces 470 horsepower, 15 more than a V8-powered Chevrolet Camaro SS. While Nyobolt hasn’t released any GPS-verified performance figures for this prototype, 342 horsepower per ton ought to produce some formidable results.
As Nyobolt is a battery technology company, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that this sports car prototype is currently the only one of its sort in existence, but it has been engineered for low-volume production. Whether as a trackday toy, or ideally, a roadgoing toy, the promise of a properly light electric sports car is one worth considering. Come on, Nyobolt. Build at least a few hundred more of them.
(Photo credits: Nyobolt)
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Another fantasy car. One built and the promise of more. Promises are cheap.