The big problem with electric cars is the time it takes to charge. If we could ‘refuel’ them as quickly and conveniently as petrol or diesel cars, then the issues with driving and owning one would largely go away — no more need to torturously plan longer journeys, nor sit waiting, and seething, for a charging space to open up.
Could those days actually be upon us? Well, possibly. A new collaboration between the Callum organisation and battery manufacturer Nybolt may just have yielded the first truly rapid-charging electric car. In fact, the team behind the Nybolt EV claim that its battery can be full-charged in just six minutes. You wouldn’t even have time to buy a cup of nasty petrol station coffee at that rate.
Design and engineering business Callum is the brainchild of Ian Callum, former head of design at Jaguar and that man whose mind and pencils gave us such landmark automotive designs as the original Ford Puma, the Aston Martin Vanquish, and the Jaguar F-Type. Callum has teamed up with a former colleague of his, Julian Thompson, to create the look of the Nybolt EV.
If that seems like a look you’ve seen before, well that may not be a surprise — the Nybolt is based heavily on the Series 1 version of the Lotus Elise sports car, a car which Thompson designed for Lotus the first time around. Returning to his original, he’s given it wider haunches, a carbon-fibre body, high-tech LED lights, and 19-inch alloy wheels.
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It’s perhaps not merely a choice born out of nostalgia that Callum and Nybolt have chosen the Elise. Quite apart from the car’s inherent lightness (a kerb weight ‘closer to one-tonne than two-tonnes’ is being spoken of), the original Elise also formed the basis for the first-ever Tesla, the Tesla Roadster. Are Callum and Nybolt making something of a statement with their choice of donor car?
Nybolt is certainly making a statement with its battery technology. The Cambridge-based company says that it has taken “a system-level approach that has addressed each element – from materials, to cell, to pack, to drivetrain, to whole vehicle” to achieve the remarkable six-minute charging time. Now, we have not been told what charging power was used to achieve it, but Nybolt claims that the car has been designed to work at peak performance “with existing charging infrastructure.”
The 35kWh battery pack gives the Elise-based Nybolt a range of up to 250km on one charge — a relatively short range, but rather more useful if its ultra-rapid recharge time can be replicated in the real world. Nybolt claims that constant fast-charging doesn’t wear out the battery, either. According to the company: “The battery has been tested for over 2,000 fast charging cycles without significant performance loss.”
Sai Shivareddy, chief executive at Nyobolt, said: “Unlocking the challenges faced by electric vehicle designers has been key to the development of our breakthrough fast-charging batteries. Previously, enabling a light weight fast-charging vehicle was not possible without compromising its lifetime and so people have been relying on costly and large battery packs in the vehicle.
“With our unique technology we have achieved a six-minute charge car, and developed smaller battery packs that can deliver more power and charge in less time. Our partnership with Callum shows how adoption of system-level technology innovations can transform the future of electric vehicles and increase accessibility of EVs, including to the 40 per cent of UK households who can’t charge their vehicle at home overnight.”
The Nybolt EV is a little larger than the original Elise — 100mm wider and 150mm longer — and it incorporates some neat details, from the low-tech (cooling vents integrated into the rear lights) to the high-tech (rearview cameras to replace the old Rover-sourced door mirrors). It’s also been designed to try and drum up some excitement among car enthusiasts for the shift to electric power.
“The aim was to evolve the design and bring it up to date while keeping that iconic sports car character that was so well received in the Elise,” explains Aleck Jones, creative lead at Callum.
“Typically, you run into feasibility issues with initial sketches and a design loses impact as it moves from concept into reality, but incredibly – and thanks to the close working relationship between Callum’s design and engineering teams – we have been able to realise our early images and unique vision in the real world. Nyobolt’s technology allows this car to tick all the boxes that made the original Elise such a desirable drivers’ car with a cult following, but it’s electric. These two things don’t usually come hand-in-hand due to weight and battery packaging constraints.”
Nybolt plans to begin production of its new battery technology in 2024. Will this Elise-based model actually go on sale? It’s possible. The two companies have spoken of further collaborations, but haven’t given any specifics as yet.
