News

When Mario Illien and the late Paul Morgan founded Ilmor Engineering in 1983, neither could have dreamed what part of their company would be doing 40 years later.

Based at Brixworth, the firm was formed to develop methanol-fuel Indycar engines but soon branched into Formula 1 and eventually sold its F1 division to Mercedes-Benz.

Today, as Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP), it’s playing a major part in developing what could be the most advanced EV battery yet.

Solid-state batteries have been on the radar for years now, but we’re still waiting. So news that Mercedes began road testing a new battery earlier this month in an EQS using cells from US-based Factorial Energy is significant – not least because it tackles a key drawback associated with these high-capacity lithium batteries by using a new patented technology.

The earliest prototype lithium battery developed by British chemist M Stanley Whittingham had metal anodes made from a blend of lithium and aluminium rather than the graphite used today. The design proved unstable and manufacturing too complex for production, but the thinking was spot on.

Lithium metal has the highest energy capacity of any anode material and has the potential for batteries with correspondingly higher energy density, delivering longer range than existing production EV batteries. But there are two problems.

The first is that lithium metal anodes produce tentacle-like dendrites, which eventually travel through the liquid electrolyte of a conventional lithium ion battery, touching the cathode and destroying the battery. Solid-state batteries prevent this by using a solid electrolyte.

The second problem is that the volume of cells containing lithium anodes increases and decreases during charging and discharging, which causes a mechanical problem in a tightly packed battery.

HPP has come up with a hydraulically actuated ‘floating’ cell carrier so the cells can swell and contract without damage. It represents a major step in being the first time a battery with lithium metal anodes has been successfully used in a production car.

Will it be the most advanced EV battery? The numbers suggest so. The EQS is targeted to achieve 620 miles, around 25% more range, using a battery of the same weight and dimensions as the standard EQS battery.

Its cells are based on the maker’s Factorial Electrolyte System Technology (Fest), which it describes as “quasi-solid electrolyte technology”.

Its sulphide-based tech, called Solstice, has an all-solid-state electrolyte material that in future trials will raise the range game still further.

Fest also has a lithium metal anode giving similar performance and safety advantages to all-solid-state electrolytes mixed with the production ease of conventional lithium ion batteries.

Factorial also has deals in place with Stellantis and Hyundai, which bodes well for more affordable cars too.

British start-up Get Lost has revealed a Lotus Elise S1 restomod that reimagines the legendary 1990s sports car as a dramatic rally-raid machine.

Dubbed the Project Safari, it has been conceived as an exercise in defiance against the Elise’s original intent.

“The idea of taking an Elise off-road might sound ridiculous, and that’s exactly why we leaned into it,” said Get Lost founder George Williams.

Chief among the changes made to the mid-engined roadster is the installation of a bespoke suspension set-up that raises its ride height by 100mm, giving it significantly greater ground clearance. 

The undertray is reinforced to protect it from rocks sprayed upward by the chunky Nankang all-terrain tyres and from any extrusions encountered during any low-speed excursions.

The wheel arches are flared to accommodate the taller rubber and a new air intake – styled to mirror the look of the Elise’s front grille – hovers above the cockpit.

Lighting has been upgraded by way of rectangular LED headlights, intended to contrast against the Elise’s curves, and a rally-style pod of four lamps mounted on the front end.

Surrey-based Get Lost added that the Project Safari uses a different powertrain to the Elise’s original Rover-supplied 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine.

It has yet to detail what it opted for but said the new unit will “bring the performance and reliability you actually want in a car like this".

Potential candidates include Honda’s K-Series and Ford’s Duratec four-cylinder engines. Both are already popular transplants for the S1 and bring significantly greater power than the original engine's 118bhp.

The Project Safari also receives a limited-slip differential and a hydraulic handbrake.

“This is not a modified Elise; it’s our interpretation of what the platform had to offer,” said Williams. “Everything has been considered, from the design to the drive, all in the pursuit of creating something that’s fun.”

Polestar has cut the greenhouse-gas emissions of each electric car it produces by a quarter since 2020 – and it has done so without radical technologies or materials, instead targeting the “low-hanging fruit”.

Speaking to Autocar ahead of the publication of Polestar’s latest sustainability report, Polestar sustainability boss Fredrika Klarén explained that the substantial reduction in cradle-to-grave emissions is in large part due to how Polestar now sources materials.

Since the start of Polestar 2 production in 2020, it has swapped from traditional sources of aluminium and steel to metal that has either already been recycled or has been smelted using renewable electricity.

These two materials are responsible for some 45% of the 2’s total greenhouse gas emissions, according to Polestar, so present significant opportunities to reduce its environmental impact.

The Swedish company also started using renewable energy at its factories; and it derives some reduction in emissions from the updated, now rear-wheel-drive 2’s greater efficiency. 

“A lot of voices want to talk about how it is technically unfeasible or financially unsound,” said Klarén, “but what we see is that there are so many low-hanging fruits you can absolutely go for.”

She added that there is “still progress to be made”, even with these “low-hanging fruits”.

For example, Polestar Zero – the company’s project to build a climate-neutral car by 2030 – recently identified a potential 10-tonne reduction in CO2 emissions in steel and aluminium sourcing alone.

Kláren continued: “Recycled content: it's not rocket science, right?

“Hopefully we can really [guarantee] that these solutions can be utilised as quickly as possible.

"When we went into the Polestar Zero project, we had the 2020 version of the Polestar 2 as a base car. That car had a 26.1-tonne [carbon] footprint, and if we use the solutions that I just spoke about, we would be down to 16 tonnes.”

Pursuing such endeavours means Polestar is now outperforming its previous forecast for decarbonising its cars entirely by 2040, according to Kláren.

“An EV is not sustainable today, but it absolutely has the potential to become that, and it is better today than the [alternative], and to also create exciting stories around these cars,” she said.