Detroit Electric
- United States
The Detroit Electric SP.01 is a proposed battery electric vehicle designed by the Detroit Electric company and originally unveiled to the media in Detroit and then publicly at the Shanghai Motor Show in 2013 and formally launched in the UK in 2017 as a production ready model, but never progressed beyond prototype stage. It is powered by an air-cooled lithium polymer battery. Its maximum speed and acceleration are comparable to those of the Tesla Roadster.
The original Detroit Electric was an electric car model produced by the Anderson Electric Car Company in Detroit, Michigan, from 1907 to 1939.
The marque was revived in 2008 by Albert Lam, former Group CEO of the Lotus Engineering Group and executive director of Lotus Cars of England to produce modern all-electric cars by Detroit Electric Holding Ltd. of the Netherlands.
In 2014 it emerged that a change of strategy relocated the proposed manufacturing if the SP01 to the UK and testing of the prototypes continued in 2014.
The SP.01 was relaunched again in 2017 following new investment from Far East Smarter Energy with $370 million for the European arm to homologate the car and prepare production in Leamington Spa.
The company ceased to make any further announcements after September 2017, and as of 2022 the company's website no longer exists.
