Is the Caterham Project V the first of a new breed of lightweight EV sports cars? I think so..

well welcome to a new Harry's Garage video and yes we are not in the garage we are at a studio complex because hiding in one of the studios here is the new katum project V now this is their electric car that they launched at Goodwood this year and I'm very intrigued by this I just know katum it's 50 years of katum and it's a very simple formula for the last 50 years if we ignore katum 21 many years ago but this time they're looking at electric who would have thought we' have a electric Coupe katrum but the project V wowed everyone when it was shown it is a beautiful little car Alpine A110 air Lotus Emir is that sort of car and they invited me up to have a look at it but also to interview the CEO of Kat room Bob lley and I'm really Keen to see where this Marketplace why they feel they need to do electric is this where we're going or can the the the traditional katrum carry on for many years with all the legislations so I'm going to talk to Bob later first of all I'm going to talk to Anthony janelli who is the designer of the project V and he's going to take us around the car and just we'll work out how he envisioned this car why it's so important to cat him so follow me and we're going in the studio this is the studio where it is we're going to go through some of the drawings later and I ought to say now it's quite echoing here so apologies if the sound we're going to try and keep our voices down so it doesn't sound like we're recording this in a church but first of all Anthony thanks ever so much for today thank you you're going to take me around the car what a lovely sight it is when I walked in it's one of those cars that actually look better than it does in the pictures which is always a good sign I actually thought it was great but it's quite a sort of subtle sort of green color as well it's all about the package basically you know know I keep explaining that it's like the goal all the time is to make a small car but with the right proportions and I think that's that's what we nailed in some sort and this this color has a story about it it's actually again very logical and very in line with with what cam stands for like it's Simplicity lightness and uh fun to drive other thing but you know when you do when you launch a car you want to find a tricky color but then people will comment about it it so the idea was just to get a gray metallic car and because it's British it has to be green so it's actually a metallic gray with a slight hint of green but uh people seem to love it so yeah well it's more than a hint of green I would say I would never describe that as a gray color and the the other immediate oppression when I see it I don't think it's electric it just looks you know a beautiful shape has a radiator at the front it looks conventional but you and I know it is electric but in some some sort everything has a purpose again it's it's it's a Catan philosophy so you know it has this Mid Engine stance basically but the great thing is that actually you get the silhouette of the Mid Engine but you take out the engine and you can have a second SE at the back so it's actually a 2 plus2 or 2+ one in the shape of a miden engine Nimble sports car and that's I would say the big advantage of uh using an electric package so when did you start drawing this out uh it was about a year ago actually from now and uh and as as I said I use you know your video just to to actually get no no but it's it's like the brief was to create a link with the Lotus San because there is a link with a seven from Lotus and takahashian was in love with the car so we said okay let's try to understand what is a lan and then you know I have to I don't have one so I use your I'm very fond of mine I've owned a land for many years now and there is there's still a lovely shate they still look quite modern I always think the sort of the same I think you see that from the rear actually more don't you you saying that you copied the land lights and that how that the land has a very a boot lid like that doesn't it in that flat rear yeah it's a structure basically because when we say copy between Z we are be careful but the inspiration it's from and especially in the light you know the light is some kind of it takes the same silhouette as and actually it can become a great signature for keran because you know when you have to design something without any styling DNA you know from you wonder and we F at the beginning of a round tail light know which is nice but everybody uses it so finding this it's it's great to that's a very good one yeah it goes up to Series 3 it was like that and then they got the E Type rear lights didn't they and it has a proper bumper people was amazed because the reaction of the PE of the audience was great about this at the beginning nobody was sure if we would really just tick a bumper you know but I don't know there's something about it it has a lovely sh it looks practical and you know we were discussing A110 when obviously when you look at this car you think that but there is there is more muscle with this car isn't it much more the rear haunch is much more powerful looks wider to me yeah way I describe the car usually it's it's it's in three stages basically you know my style is called like retrofuturistic so you always try to take the best of both world so if you look at the bottom of the car it's all about showing the functionalities of the car like the seven you see the functionality form follows function so this car has to go through air so you see the front splitter the side skirt the rear diffuser you you see the purpose of the of the part and then you you go to to the middle area of the car which is actually very strict very modern and again there's a hint at the seven because you see the seven has this aluminum folded panels so I try to recreate The Same Spirit you know when you fold suddenly the the material and then the top of the car it's all like subtle and and soft and very with a lot of sensuality you know like glamorous what to all the term and I guess that's where you get the Italian feel in some sort for me it's a seduction part you know it's always good and it's nice to have your name on it but uh yeah Italian design you can't be Italian design but little surprise krums are always never had a roof really yeah you got a roof I know I know yeah we were challenged at the beginning with the brief because they were like are you sure you want to do a car like this because people expect to be uh connected with the outside you know and this is but at the same time this car has a different function of the seven you know like the m is not that you will not replace the seven with this car is this car could be almost a daily Drive I see it as the same purpose as a 911 some sort you have enough space inside it's a small package it's electric so it's easy to drive and it's light and you get a certain status with his car that's you know so next to an LP 110 you've got rear space you got more space in it so how much longer is it you should it's only 5 cm longer than the 11 the wheel base is quite long actually so it's because it's electric that then frees up this volume that you can yeah that was the first thought um when the brief was to create a 2 plus two you'll say actually a catam should be as short as possible you know you think of it and you're like okay how can we make it as short as possible but still being a 2 plus two finally the electric uh solution is is a good solution because you you see an electric motor is very small so usually I explain that if you want to imagine the volume taken it's like a virtual cylinder that you with the diameter of the wheel and then all the rest is empty basically so you can have a great boot a lot of size and uh and a rare bench basically now is that the standard configuration like this uh personally I hope for yeah so we still have to make sure with thetion but yeah it makes sense because we wanted to test the market with that and you know the point is that you can never put two adults at the back in in this type of car so and if you're a kid basically you're stuck beyond the seat it's not fun you know it's a punishment to be at the back yes so imagine your a father you have two kids a teenager and a child he can be in the middle sees the RO he can have fun as well you know I think that's very popular and a child seat could go there if you do the I and the wheel size is quite big isn't it it's 20 in yeah yeah yeah this is uh we always joke with Bob because you say you designers you want the biggest wheel but it helps for the proportion you know I mean everyone everyone want this and it works also with an electric car because we might reduce the the width of the tire but the diameter helps because an electric car has a lot of torque right so you might be okay with a bigger wheel and it has a better rolling efficiency yes so actually it can make sense on such a car you know but wide yeah it's 285 at the rear I think yeah Al is 2 three5 so yeah that's where we are still in in front of a concept car you know I mean at the beginning it was a very quick uh process and to be honest when we worked with ital design on the package they were like what Wheels do you want and we didn't have time to really check everything but you got black wheels I wish you didn't have black wheels I'm sorry you're a fan of black wheels are you uh I mean for me like what matters is a silhouette yes and and I don't want people to be attracted to the design of a specific area right so yeah it's a it's a thing you interesting but as I said no anybody can choose anything you know I don't there's no right or wrong in this story no I'm presuming these the charging ports either side it seems to be yeah the funny thing is that we need the charging port and there the story about the front of the car yeah if you see the shut lines are very clean it's only like a clean straight line a and then you get to the to the back so you have a huge clam shell huge yeah and this part will not open for the user only for maintenance okay and the key thing is that thanks to that we have much more space for the suspension system and we don't have to add extra panels inside Etc so it goes with the lightness process you know and uh so you will be able to charge the car from the side and the other side you know all to for all the coolants all the liquids you know you'll be able to to fill in right and so the point is like you don't use this because you have space at the back space the and there is another point with the front is that I still try to create a connection with the seven styling wise so you can imagine actually the starting point where you take the volume of the seven so you recognize the nose basically and the mouse like this this this very right right and you you see it's like if it's a seven that's finally you started to cover the wheels and you covered as you said before it was open so now you cover the cabin and you have this very clean surface but actually it's all logical and so it's like a seven inside the project and it's actually got a radiator there as well isn't it it's a genuine radiator it's not a fake Grill no no it serves the purpose yeah and as Bob will explain it's it's it's about the type of battery we will use in this car yeah well feel very grateful to now I've see it in the in the metal so thank you Anthony I'm going to yeah go over to Bob and see understand the technology behind it and where this is sits in it but that was great to walk around thank you thank you Harry well very nice to meet you thank you for inviting us down and to look around this um how long have you been at katum then CEO so I've been at 2 years and I've been CEO for the last 12 months really so you've been right at the birth of this car is this your what you came in to do or yeah I think basically I mean I was appointed when the new owners VT Holdings acquired the company I was initially Chief Strate IC officer to try and set the direction for the future of the company this was one of those strings that we're we're heading towards yeah well an electric cater room was as came as a surprise to me when I saw it at Goodwood so yeah was that always going to be the direction do you think so this car has always been an EV from the conception yeah but it doesn't mean that the Seven's going away we're carry on making the seven we're going to make it into the next decade with ice engines this is to complement that range and expand and grow the business right but this will always be pure electric corre SC yeah and yeah Anthony's very kindly taking me around it it's it has more muscle to it I couldn't get over it it sort of looks conventionally power but you actually have radiators in the front and they're needed aren't they they are this yeah for the battery but and it's a coupe and you don't normally do Coupes at Cater them that's the direction set by VT very clearly um right VT believe there is a an opening in the market for Ev sports car with a 2+ one or 2 plus2 seating configuration uh and that is a very big opportunity for growth in the future to grow the business this is where they see katrum going correct with a more usable car how many 6 600 cars a year isn't it at the moment so we we produce we we sell more than 600 cars a year but our current capacity is around 600 next year we're moving to a new Factory to increase that to 750 right but there's some homologation constraints around the total volume of sevens that we can produce so there's an ultimate size of the market of sevens and to grow the business we need a a new product and is this what I would term a world car correct yeah I mean initially we're planning on launching it in UK Europe Japan which are traditionally our biggest customers biggest markets now um UK France and Japan are actually the biggest markets for sevens ultimately we plan to introduce this in North America and possibly China some couple of years after the start of production and price point on it you that's an important point I would guess because that sets everything doesn't it what you can do yeah so we're starting from uh 8,000 in the UK cuz 80,000 doesn't buy quite as much as it did even three years ago at mod doesn't it that's true but one one of the things about you know krum's um core DNA is simplicity so there's a lot of features that we haven't got in this car that you would traditionally have in you know a mainstream car there's no for example there's no embedded navigation or audio system we're just planning to have smartphone mirroring for Android auto or apple carplay we haven't actually looked at the interior we ought to have a quick look at that yeah it's um it's bigger than I expected in here I could yeah I could actually go a bit forward I think yeah conventional dials that's nice to see yeah they are little they are actually round aren't they they're not a screen with dials on they're very clever seats they're carbon back ones aren't they they are yeah they're the thinnest on the market to help with the packaging right and my legs are up it's um yeah so where's the battery on this car so we have two battery packs um one of the battery packs is underneath your feet which is why your legs feel slightly elevated right the seating position is very very similar to a seven though so I don't think anybody's complaining about the pedals being slightly elevated no and I can see the wings actually I can see the bubbles of the Wings out the front you have a screen but you're saying that's all just going to be from your mobile whatever appears there yeah I the the packaging and the layout is um I think one of the the masterpieces of Antony's design and the work we did with idg in Italy because we used their um virtual suite and lab to to lay everything out and the the sheer fact that it's an EV gives us more space to play with yeah it is Big isn't it it's much bigger than I expected in here what what is its basic construction then is it so we're planning on using a composite body um and that allows us to achieve the weight Target that we're we're trying to deliver which is 11 90 kg this hasn't hasn't got a carbon tub though is it is it is the structure that we're talking about is is composite not necessarily carbon but right but it's not metal It's a combination of metal and composite volume in here is is a surprise and it you you're fixed with a coupe you're going to have a coupe to me katum is always in the open and you enjoying the open so this feels very grown up for katrum cuz I always think is in the toy business as it were but this feels a bit more practical than I expected I I think you can use this as a daily you can package three people in here we're very comfortable with the direction the Seven's still going to exist as I've said before so that's it isn't it and that's something I've never seen in a case from an AC button unheard of air conditioning it comes with the nature of putting a roof on yeah I suppose it does right you've got a technical draw I'd quite like to just talk around that sure they problem yeah well first surprise is you've actually split the battery looking at that as a l is that what's going on yeah there two batteries so there's two battery packs but the sole reason for that is to put the seating in the same position it would be in a conventional sports car okay which is why when you sit inside you've got a decent head room and the bottom of the seat is closes to the floor right the side effect is as we mentioned earlier that your feet are slightly elevated and this battery pack is about 80 mm thick and your feet are about 80 M higher than normal I mean not know an elevated seating position like a Formula 1 you're not sitting in a bathtub with your feet on the Taps but you you are in the the seating position conventional place with your feet slightly elevated and if you imagine this pack at the back is double that thickness so take half of that and put it there that's where that's comes from but what's the weight distribution Target it's it's it's to try and get that cater aesque tail happy kind of uh fun to drive feeling um so the exact split's not decided yet it depends on the final technology we choose for the motor inverter and everything else but um we we want to get that fun to drive element into the car from from the beginning I was talking to Anthony the big front clamshell doesn't open and that helps you here in this area just yeah so you know we we've consciously tried to focus on the Simplicity of this car not having a luggage space at the front saves us another closure another set of hinges another plastic tray all of which weighs maybe 10 kilos which is 10 kilos off the overall weight of the car the then side effect of that is it gives us complete Freedom underneath there to lay everything out in the optimum space for performance fun to drive we can put the steering rack where it should be for a a traditional performance car which is in front of the front axle we can put the wishbones where we want have the size of wishbones we we would like to choose and the focus is on that that driving capability that's the the core of everything we do is to replicate that fun to drive experience that you get in a seven yeah the electric car I just don't see it as a fun device you're this has somehow more appeal CU it's quite a sexy looking thing and I like the lightweight and things so you have a challenge for perhaps traditional like me that to prove this is going to be fun I suppose well we need to get you in a a lightweight EV as soon as POS possible and see what it's like Everything's Relative the world's moving towards heavier electric different types of Powertrain we just still want to keep at the bottom end of that weight scale and weight's just relative we just want to produce the lightest most fun to drive EVS the direct comparison back to an ice car yes let's see where we end up but finally this is going to weigh a similar sort of level to uh Alpine A110 which you know has got got good reviews for its handling and performance oh yeah no it's great fun yeah it's the lightness and the lightness is what brings that yeah and and we're all about likeness yeah the the Japanese though they're they're looking at a different Tech in a way that's all that Mazda at Tokyo show and how they're doing it and whether there's other ways of doing electric they've got a range extender drive train so so this whole technology debate yeah car manufacturers have invested billions in the EV technology yeah so all future cars are going to have a battery electric motor differential part will be how that batter is charged whether it's from a socket from an ice engine or from a fuel cell or some other way of charging that battery but the future is cars are going to have battery electric motor and something to put the energy in there and that's the way I look at it that's that very simple way and even if you break down the m it's got a battery and a EV Power tray with with something charging that battery and it's the size of the battery that's differentiated by what's charging it simple as that right because so far the super electric supercars I think all they've done is just add more battery more Motors and they think acceleration is the fun bit you're not coming at it from that point of view absolutely not we're we're purely coming from a weight point of view that the the N to 60 performance of this is is not Stellar it's 4.5 seconds it's not we're not chasing one less than 2 seconds we're we're chasing that element of going around corners in a fun performance way if you look at the big heavy sports cars that's just the state of where EV technology is now and it becomes I don't want to say um a vicious circle but you know when you're doing the planning for those big superc cars it's like oh I can get 500 horsepower of electric motor I can get 1,000 horsepower of electric elect motor and you convince yourself that you need that which then you need a big heavy battery and you can get the incredible numbers that people are chasing and we're going in slightly the opposite direction if this ultimately ends up on a track at a track day the only time you use a n to 60 is driving out of the pit Lane and you're not allowed to speed in the pit Lane anyway no it's more about how quickly you go around the corners and the experience of going around the corners which is what catr room is all about yeah well it's the engagement so I I was going to ask whether there is a when you're developing this car are you thinking about Road and track at the same time how do you see I think initially we're talking about Road this is going to be a fun to drive car on the road and you know Sunday morning Cars and Coffee Sprint out come home put it back in the garage or use it in as a daily in town something more elegant than your conventional SUV or small EV um but ultimately as the technology develops then we see an opportunity for this for for for the track but you know the infrastructure at circuits needs to in improve the charging capability needs to improve and frankly the most expensive sales you can buy are ones that you can charge quickly and discharge quickly which is exactly what you want on a track so it's it's more about affordability and the business case as well the price point is important to us but that's going to drive the the the level of performance that we've got we think with you know relatively uh off off theh shelf battery cells with that weight and that performance we can make a business case out of it if we were sitting here saying that we want something that's akin to a Supercar that's got cells that are twice as energy dense and can charge three times as quick we'd be talking a significantly bigger number for the sale of this car it doesn't mean that in the future that battery option could be available as that becomes more affordable as that technology get develops and maybe the differentiator in the future is not I've got a 1.3 1.6 or 2 L or this turbo boost that turbo boost that turbo boost it's different Battery Technology that gives you the differential cuz things are changing so quickly at the moment must be really hard exactly exactly and one of the core things for us as well you know katum have always repurpose OEM technology let's put it like that yeah so we plan to do the same and that means we can get the most affordable OEM developed technology and integrate it into our car and as that develops we can update as well right you know if you look at at seven we've had K series engines box allall engines various different Ford engines and potentially that's how this will develop moving forward for the next decades to come well yes I was going to say the the K 7 has a 50-year life the actual outside shave hasn't changed no So you you're this I suppose that's where I ought to look at this then to view this that's I think that's exactly right Harry I mean you know if we look at the design of this car I think if this design was here 10 years ago or is here 10 years hence it would still be timeless and I think that's one of the beautiful things that anony has put together in this car because it Harps back to that retro design modernity it is mind us so if we're still making the shaped car same shaped car in 15 20 years time it won't have dated no so we're this I'm staring at kum's 911 then in in other words that's very generous of you say so but it is isn't it it's a Direction that's what you're s of saying it's a coupe and what you can do you could say that the 911 is Porsche's catm 7 cuz it hasn't changed for 50 years I suppose not so the technology under the skin will develop with as as it come I mean how long do you see the seven lasting is is engine Supply still fine legally we can sell the seven well into the next decade and in certain markets changes in legislation will stop us selling in certain markets bizarrely it's not emissions that will stop us it's more of the global safety requirements that we have to apply but engine Supply is another big factor must be at some point Ford will startop making a jotech engine we need a successor we're looking at what successes could be available we know from talking to oems that they're still planning to to make ice engines um into the next decade right the big question for us is whether they'll physically fit inside the shape of a seven right but we're confident enough to have just taken a lease on a new Factory for the next decade and more and increased the capacity of seven production which will continue to use ice engines right and sustainable field we've got that argument as well haven't we but it's the actual Hardware the thought we're just concentrating on the hardware I mean when a sustainable fuel is developed it will work in any ice engine so that is not something that we can ignore but it's not something that needs to be on our development road map yeah okay returning to the project V then when do I get to see one actually working when am I going to try a prototype when do it go to the market so it goes to the market in 2026 VT is supporting us strongly and we're in a around of uh trying to raise investment and to help us with that we need as many potential customers to express their interested in buying this car so um that that that's where we are Curr What's happen some customers have expressed an interest in having both a lot of the interest we've had so far is from completely new markets completely new new cohort of customer well this is a lovely place to start the design is absolutely cracking can't wait to try it and you prove to me that it's fun to drive that's that's the one I want to find out it has to be to be K so that's what Kats are thank you very much Bob that was fascinating it's our pleasure all right well there we are deep dive into the catering project view this electric sports car coming from catering both from the design point of view and then the manufacturing point of view with Bob I wouldn't have predicted 5 years ago I'd be standing in the studio with electric cerum but I like the Simplicity I like the lightweight sort of philosophy behind it and we're not chasing those numbers as seems to be the vean of El sports cars I don't see the point of 1,000 horsepower electric roadsters whatever Tesla think or some of the other sports cars out there but the Simplicity of cerum and like Lotus as well all come down to the driving and what it feels like to drive whatever it excites so but it's great to see this project I hope you enjoy this video if you did well keep watching keep subscribing more videos coming on very soon

Channel: Harry's garage

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Id: RauqcIreKWs

Length: 30min 2sec (1802 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 05 2023