The Electric Lotuses Are Coming

Lotus Cars has entered a technical partnership with Williams Advanced Engineering to research and develop advanced propulsion technologies – namely electric motors and batteries.

Williams Advanced Engineering is the engineering offshoot of the Williams Formula 1 team. Lotus says it wanted to partner with the company on advanced powertrain technologies due to its “acclaimed experience across the automotive sector and beyond,” and the expertise it garnered when supplying the batteries for the Formula E race series from 2014 to 2018.

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Lotus parent company Geely, which also owns the Volvo and Lynk & Co brands, wants to position Lotus as the performance and technology cornerstone of its brand portfolio. To do this, it will launch a fully electric hypercar under the Lotus banner, which will feature powertrain technology derived from the Williams partnership. The hypercar, codenamed Omega, will allegedly have a four-figure power output and a range of around 250 miles.

More affordable electric Lotuses are also on the cards, it seems, with the automaker saying the Williams partnership will eventually help “lead high-performance automotive evolution across multiple vehicle sectors.” Lotus is currently working on its first-ever SUV, a product that should help it gain a stronger foothold in China, and may be planning a second larger SUV model as well.

“Our new technology partnership with Williams Advanced Engineering is part of a strategy to expand our knowledge and capability in the rapidly changing automotive landscape,” said Lotus CEO Phil Popham. “Applying advanced propulsion powertrains can provide numerous exciting solutions across multiple vehicle sectors. Our combined and complementary experiences make this a very compelling match of engineering talent, technical ability and pioneering British spirit.”

The Lotus hypercar is expected to debut in about two years. The SUV, which will share utilize a Volvo platform, is expected to debut around the same time in 2021.

This article originally appeared on SwedeSpeed.com