The Caterham sEVen will debut at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed

The Caterham sEVen will debut at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed


Before starting with this information I want to make a reference so that we know the origin of this emblem car called Seven and which was created by Colin Chapman in the 50s; Yes, you read correctly, in the fifties and it is still being produced.



Lotus Seven Series 1 1957


It had a front hatch with a De Dion rear axle, and was powered by a Ford 1.2 four-cylinder engine with side valves, capable of producing 40 HP. It was not a powerful engine, the mechanics were very simple and its structure was very light as its weight was more than 400 kg..


The Lotus brand produced and sold the Saba from 1957 to 1975 and one of its most important distributors was the Caterham dealer, based in Surrey (England), which ended up buying the Saba name and manufacturing rights from Lotus Cars in 1974.



Since then – and to this day – the Caterham Seven continues to be considered a classic sports car and only the most experienced dare to drive it, because it is old school. There have been crazy people who put a V8 in that small and weak roadster that in the right hands could give Ferraris or Lambos a lot of battle in the tight spots.


Let’s move on to seVen



The Caterham EV Seven will debut at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed


Developed in partnership with Swindon Powertrain Ltd, the Caterham EV Seven will test the durability of an electric sports car that stays true to Caterham’s roots in building simple – and fast – cars that are both road-legal and track-ready.


Based on the wide SV chassis, EV Seven weighs only 70 kg (about the same as passengers) more than a comparable petrol model, with an impressive predicted weight of 700 kg. Including battery.



The EV Seven uses an engine developed by Swindon Powertrain, which produces 179 kW (243 Hp) and 249 Nm of torque. That’s 0 to 100 in just over four seconds and a top speed of 210 km/h which is pretty high for a light car like the Caterham.



The battery is cooled by 40kWh immersion dielectric fluids (typically used to reduce the temperature in very powerful computers) to survive. The result is a battery that can cope with the thermal cycles required during sporty driving with a subsequent charging speed of up to 152kWh.



Bob Laishley


Caterham CEO Bob Laishley, (former NISMO CEO) said: “Any future EV design we produce must be true to Caterham’s DNA: light, fun to drive and driver-focused. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a challenging vehicle that weighs less than the equivalent of carrying passengers on board. We will never launch a Saba weighing a ton or more, we prefer not to. Creating a Seven that can complete the Sunday morning journey on electricity can be achieved with current battery technology, but the challenge is for track use, where energy consumption increases dramatically. Currently, battery immersion cooling is one of the best solutions to deal with the rapid charge and discharge cycles that can be found on a race track.”


“We have no plans to put the EV Seven into production at this stage; it’s an experiment to see how the EV powertrain works for our customers’ specific use cases. We’re doing this project with our eyes open so we can learn how to deliver the unique qualities of a Caterham car.” required for Saba: light, easy and fun to drive. We will launch it on the market at the right time, when the next generation of battery technology allows, and that is why now is the time to test the concept in the natural environment of our car, on the road and what better. to do it at Goodwood.”