Lotus and Centrica to develop new electric vehicle ownership model

By Matt de Prez

11 May 2020

Lotus is partnering with Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, to develop a new model for electric vehicle ownership that “fully integrates future mobility and energy”.

It aims to make the car an extension of the home, capable of storing electricity, minimising emissions and generating new income by providing services to the energy market.

The companies aim to “redefine the customer relationship with cars”.

There are little details about how the system will work, but it’s likely to involve a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging system, similar to the one being developed by Nissan and EDF.

Lotus, which is owned by Chinese company Geely, is gearing up to launch its Evija electric hypercar later this year. It will be the brand’s first electric model.

Centrica will also facilitate a sustainability program that leverages low carbon technologies and helps mitigate the environmental impact of everything from manufacturing through to sales and the day-to-day activities of Lotus employees, helping meet Lotus’ carbon reduction aspirations.

The new partnership will help establish a new global charging and energy infrastructure for new products as part of Lotus’ journey to net-zero carbon following huge investment into the business since 2018.

Centrica Group CEO Chris O’Shea said: “We are committed to helping our customers and communities achieve net-zero and to do so, we must enable the change to electric vehicles. We have the technology, the skills and the scale to do this and our partnership with Lotus is another step in bringing our commitment to life.”

Lotus Cars CEO Phil Popham said: “Our journey to net-zero carbon is absolutely lock-in-step with the Vision80 strategy for Lotus – taking us to eighty years of the business in 2028. By then we will have transformed Lotus into a truly global player in the high-performance high-technology sector with a new range of cars that remain true to our fundamental promise of always being ‘For The Drivers’. The difference is the energy and infrastructure that will power and support these products in the future – this new partnership demonstrates the progress being made and the ambition of our vision.”