Lotus Partnering with Formula E Battery Supplier Williams to Develop Electric Hypercar

Lotus' upcoming electric hypercar, codenamed Omega, won't be fully revealed until later this year ahead of its planned production in 2020. But today the company unveiled its powertrain partner, whose name should ring a bell to racing fans: Williams Advanced Engineering. 

Williams has been running in F1 since the late 1970s; more recently, its Advanced Engineering arm has been supplying batteries for the Formula E series since 2014, gaining a great deal of technical knowledge in electric vehicles in the process. Expect Lotus to lead the development of the chassis and ensure that it's as light as humanly possible. Williams, of course, will focus on electric performance to give the platform its hypercar credentials. 

"Our combined and complementary experiences make this a very compelling match of engineering talent, technical ability and pioneering British spirit," Lotus Cars CEO Phil Popham said in a press release. 

Lotus' parent company Geely has been working with electric vehicles a lot lately, as Geely also owns Volvo, Polestar and the London Electric Vehicle Company (LEVC). With all that expertise in the background, Lotus was never going into this project blind—but now the addition of Williams Advanced Engineering adds even more credibility to the plans.

The Lotus Omega is expected to have all-wheel drive with two electric motors that hopefully achieve over 1,000 horsepower. According to Autocar, the range is expected to be over 250 miles with fast charging and an energy recovery system onboard.