Green Options

This has been a Lotus/Chrysler-heavy blog in the past few days, but let’s face it: if you’re talking advanced automotive technology and lightweight engineering, you’re talking about Lotus Cars - and if you’re talking highly-anticipated new electric vehicles at Detroit’s 2009 NAIAS auto show, you’re talking about Chrysler’s ENVI electric-vehicle program.

The car shown above is the Dodge Circuit, which Chrysler promised would be a real step forward from the concept Dodge EV they showed last summer (a UK-only Lotus Europa powered by a 200 kW electric motor that Dodge painted yellow and decorated with cheap vinyl stickers).  I won’t keep you in suspense:  it ain’t.

More - including Chrysler’s official press release and some official photography - after the jump.

Editor’s note: Jo is our newest addition to the Gas 2.0 team. He’s written for us before as a guest writer, but this marks his transition to full fledged writer status. We’re pleased to have him on board. Welcome Jo!

Envied worldwide for producing feather-lite supercars just itching to be made into electric torque monsters (even Tesla has borrowed heavily from the Lotus parts bin), Lotus has indicated it wants to enter the world of exotic electric cars itself - perhaps even as soon as late 2009.

Ever since the late Colin Chapman began building his own sportscars under the Lotus brand (way back in 1952!) the company has followed a simple philosophy for its go-fast racers: add lightness.  “Adding lightness” meant that Chapman’s cars were incredibly efficient - using less fuel and fewer tires than the competition.