If you have been following this week’s events, you should know that British carmaker Lotus chose to postpone the launch of its electric hypercar Evija and sever ties with Williams Advanced Engineering, citing supply delays as the reason. WAE does not agree with this position and is taking the matter to court.
WAE claims there have been no supply delays and holds that the decision by Lotus to abandon partnership is illegal. The company suspects Geely, the Chinese corporation owning most of Lotus, in orchestrating the events. According to WAE, Lotus has left its bills unpaid since April, but the work has continued – and now the company will be seeking damages.
On a curious side note, Lotus holds that Williams only participated in the development of the battery and power controller – and nothing else. For its part, Williams says it has designed nearly all the tech behind the hypercar, including the electric motors and the transmission.
The Lotus Evija is a purely electric super sports coupe that comes armed with four motors arranged one per wheel. Their combined output exceeds 2,000 hp (1,500 kW), enabling the racer to zap from zero to 300 km/h (0-186 mph) in a breezy nine seconds. At least, this is what things look like on paper: the project hangs in the air right now.