Caterham’s electric dreams

THERE ARE CHALLENGING TIMES AHEAD for all car makers. In early 2021, the UK government confirmed that it would ban the sale of petrol- and diesel-engined new cars in 2030. Other governments around the world have announced similar plans with deadlines a few years later. Some large-volume car makers have announced the end of internal combustion engine (ICE) development, others that their range will be entirely BEV (battery electric vehicle) within a few years. But what will low-volume, specialist car makers do?

There’s an argument that the environmental impact of the ICE cars of all specialist car makers combined is so small as to be indiscernible, another that the future of personal transport should logically contain a number of low-emission solutions alongside BEV, perhaps allowing hydrogen fuel cells and ICE running on carbon-neutral fuels. However, at present the plans of the UK government include no such options and no dispensations.

For makers of super-lightweight cars that engage the driver