Mygreenwheels

I wonder why it took so long for this to happen. After designing electric cars for so many other automakers, Tesla's roadster and Chrysler's Dodge EV in particular, Lotus is finally about to come out with its own EV at the Geneva motor show in March.

The new model will most likely appear as a concept car based on the Lotus Evora and according to reports is expected to be a range extended EV - in other words it'll have a smaller battery than a pure EV to give it some plug-in range and an internal combustion engine to stretch its driving range up to maybe 400 miles.

While this new Lotus EV is likely to share similarly glamorous looks with the Tesla and Chrysler models which were respectively based on Lotus's Elise and Europa* platforms, its extended range is likely to give it a huge advantage.

On top of that, major financial advantage will come from the fact that there's no middle man involved in the building of this car. As if Tesla haven't got enough problems already, surely this will scare the pants off them.

And as if these alone aren't enough to give it the edge over the current top end EV competition, this car will surely benefit from Lotus's brilliant pedigree in producing performance cars.

One final thought - Lotus car names always start with an E ... it's like they were destined to create electric cars.

*Autobloggreen reports that the Dodge EV is being renamed the Circuit and will appear at the Detroit show with a new look in place of its Lotus shell.