Lotus Evija

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Award winning Lotus Evija

The Lotus Evija has been named as ‘The One to Watch‘ in Top Gear’s second-ever Electric Awards as Jack Rix, editor for Top Gear magazine was able to take an early prototype onto Lotus’s own test track in Hethel, Norfolk, production for the all-electric Lotus Evija will start later this year, but the test car handed over to Top Gear is still an early sample, rather crudely finished on the inside, but in a very special wrap on the outside.

Once production of the Lotus Evija gets started, only 120 units will be made of this Lotus halo car at £2,400,000 each (that’s about $3,357,500), but this car will come with 2,000 hp that offers an acceleration from 0 to 62 mph below the 3 seconds mark, going from 0 to 124 mph takes only 6 seconds, and more importantly, an acceleration from 200 km/h to 300 km/h (124 mph to 186 mph) also in just 3 seconds, compared to for instance the Bugatti Chiron that would take 6 seconds.

Top Gear’s Jack Rix was the first to get behind the wheel of a Lotus Evija, albeit a restricted pre-production prototype … this test car came with ‘only’ 1,600 hp and 1,250 lb-ft of torque … bummer, acceleration to 62 mph takes 3.3 seconds in this car and the top speed has been limited to 140 mph, but as this car accelerates with gearshifts, it’s just a relentless push from start to finish, this seems to become a stupendously quick car to drive, even without the full 2,000 hp available.

To keep the Lotus Evija as light as possible, they fitted a small 69 kW battery, and while it’s not fitted underneath the cockpit for that low center of gravity, Lotus has fitted it behind the cockpit, in the position where the engine would be in a mid-engine car, thus offering the same agility as a car with a naturally aspirated engine, the downside of this rather small battery is the fact the Evija will only have a range of about 30 miles when pushed hard.

On the other hand, Lotus confirms the Evija will be capable of a full charge in only 18 minutes … provided you have access to a 350 kW charger, but the advantage of using such a small battery is the fact the Lotus Evija will put only 1,680 kg on the scales, with 2,000 hp available in production form, this will result in some very brutal acceleration, and amazing road-holding capabilities with active vectoring and aerodynamics added to the production version.

Enjoy Top Gear’s video on the track test below:

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May 9, 2021 / Comments Off

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Lotus Evija is the world’s most premium sustainable car

The all-electric Lotus Evija hypercar has been recognized in the prestigious International Design Awards (IDAs), winning the ‘Product Design of the Year’ category.

Established in 2007 by a group of leading international designers, visionaries, and entrepreneurs as a response to a lack of pure design awards in their field, the IDAs have a truly global profile. They celebrate smart and sustainable multi-disciplinary designs, promoting outstanding creativity while uncovering emerging talent.

The award was presented to Lotus after being selected by a panel jury representing each of the five diverse IDA disciplines – Architecture, Fashion, Interior, Product, and Graphic Design. The jurors evaluated entries from more than 80 countries, each exhibiting the highest standards of design. The Evija was honored for its breathtaking ability to stretch the boundaries of automotive design.

Members of the IDA jury commented that the Lotus Evija “paves a way towards a more sustainable future whilst embodying an exceptional aerodynamic aesthetic”, and that “its seductive style elevates the Evija to be the world’s most premium sustainable car”.

The Lotus Evija was built with a simple goal – to be the absolute pinnacle of world-class engineering and the most powerful performance car ‘For The Drivers’. It harnesses Lotus’ technical expertise, fine-tuned over more than seven decades, to create a masterclass of automotive excellence.

Russell Carr, Director of Design, Lotus, said: “Everyone at Lotus is honored to receive this award. The Evija is an incredibly important car for Lotus; it is inspired by our innovative past and is the ultimate statement of intent for our ambitious and exciting future. It also sets the standard for a new Lotus design language.”

To celebrate the IDA award, Lotus has released a set of new images of the Lotus Evija. Shot on the streets of London prior to the current UK lockdown restrictions, they reveal every facet of the hypercar’s stunning design.

From the Lotus Cars press release (Hethel, UK – 11 February 2021)

February 11, 2021 / Comments Off

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Lotus Evija EV supercar is charging toward series production

It’s almost time for Lotus to begin production of real Evijas bound for customers, but first, it must go through its final round of testing. To accomplish this task, Lotus had to prep its brand-new production facility to build the final prototypes. New photos and video give a glimpse of what the Lotus assembly hall looks like.

The Evija, which means “the first in existence,” is an all-electric supercar that Lotus hopes will be the most powerful production road car ever made. The supercar uses electric motors for four-wheel drive with torque vectoring and has a battery pack rated at 70kWh. Lotus claims it has 1,973 horsepower and 1,254 lb-ft of torque, can go zero to 60 mph in less than three seconds, can do zero to 186 mph in less than nine seconds, and has a top speed of 200 mph. All of that, with a weight of 3,704 pounds.

Possibly more impressive are the claimed battery stats. The Evija, which is the first Lotus developed with new majority shareholder Geely, can supposedly fully charge in less than 10 minutes and has a range of 250 miles. With a 350-kW charger, it’ll fill up in 18 minutes.

Lotus says the Evija has been an extremely collaborative effort, as 20 specialist contractors and 50 experts have been on site for the past six months. They’ve been hard at work in the new facility, which is located next to the 2.2-mile Hethel circuit in Hethel, in Norfolk, U.K. Check out the new state-of-the-art light tunnel, the vehicle lifts, the gantry crane, and more above and below.

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February 19, 2020 / Comments Off

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Go to the Monterey Car Week to See the Lotus Evija

It’ll Appear at The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering

Lotus told CNET Roadshow that it would bring it’s new Evija all-electric hypercar to the Monterey Car Week in California in August. The car will make its public debut at The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering on August 16. This will be your first opportunity to see the car publicly.

In case you were under a rock when Lotus first unveiled its amazing hypercar, the vehicle is an all-electric machine with 1,973 hp and 1,250 pound-feet of torque. That makes it good for a 0-60 mph time somewhere under three seconds. Its top speed is over 200 mph.

The Evija is more than just a marvel of electric power. The vehicle is also a revelation from an exterior and interior design standpoint. The exterior features some of the most-advanced aerodynamics on any vehicle to date. It’s also simply a stunning machine to look at, and that’s true from absolutely every angle.

While we, unfortunately, won’t be at The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering on August 16, we would highly encourage anyone who will be near there to find a way to get there. The Lotus alone is reason enough to go there and enjoy yourself.

July 31, 2019 / Comments Off

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The Lotus Evija Is Electric Hyperbeast We All Want

Lotus has unveiled the Lotus Evija, an electric hypercar with a spec sheet that it has the potential to step up to some of the fastest cars of the world. A common, if unfair, gripe with electric cars is that they’re not fast enough. That’s something Tesla is trying to excise, and now Lotus is doing the same.

Just 130 units will be made, in true hypercar fashion. Each will start at a whopping £1.5 million, or about $1.86 million when converted. But aside from its price, the other jaw-dropping detail is its horsepower. It’s 1,972, thanks to four electric motors, one dedicated to each wheel.

We don’t mean to be hyperbolic here, but that is just bonkers. The car will have a top speed of over 200 miles per hour and can go from zero to 60 in just under three seconds. Lotus targets 250 miles of range, which seems quite high considering the performance. Charging won’t be a problem, as well. Lotus says you can juice this baby up from zero to 80% in just 12 minutes, and a full charge requires just 18 minutes. That is, sorry for sounding like a broken record, insane. Want to hear something crazier? Lotus says when 800kW charging becomes available, those 18 minutes will drop down to just nine. Nope, not a typo.

Now, on to the design. The car looks some sort of a crossover between famous supercar brands like Ferrari and McLaren. Big holes make up the bodywork for utilitarian flair. For aesthetic pleasure, you’ll find a massive diffuser on the rear end. Which is all to say it looks as it performs. More info when you hit the link below.

CHECK IT OUT

Photos courtesy of Lotus

July 24, 2019 / Comments Off

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See the Lotus Evija in detail in this 23-minute video

Henry Catchpole splits his time as a contributor to Evo magazine with on-camera work for Carfection. The ever-gracious Englishmen took to the studio again recently to pore over the brand new Lotus Evija — and his first gift to us is the electric coupe’s proper pronunciation: ee-VYE-yah. For a full 23 minutes, Catchpole tours the coming Lotus hypercar with Lotus’ head designer Russell Carr. The two men sweep over the car from front to rear, Carr explaining the origins and details of the many shiny bits that attract Catchpole’s eye.

The spec sheet alone is attention-getting. A 70-kWh battery fuels a powertrain rated at 2,000 horsepower and 1,254 pound-feet of torque. All-wheel drive and torque vectoring are made possible by electric motors motors front and rear, but the setup is novel. A single drive unit on each axle combines a motor and inverter, but we’re told each wheel gets its own gearbox. The package is a little shorter and wider than a Porsche 911, but sits seven inches lower than the roof of the German. Scales bend to the weight of 3,700 pounds in spite of magnesium center-lock wheels, that grandeur managed in part by six Multimatic spool-valve dampers, three on each axle. Just 130 Evijas will be produced, starting next year, each one starting at around $2.1 million.

Lotus has filled the coupe with visual flourishes. The Lotus badge on the front is metal inlaid into the carbon fiber bodywork. Carr said he wasn’t sure the engineers would be able to finalize that for production, but the designers are hoping. Fans inside the headlights keep the lumens cool, while movable DRLs and turn signals angled like the winglets on an airliner make the lumens look cool. Another neat lighting trick: The “T” in the word “Lotus” on the rear fascia acts as the reversing light. Two features we haven’t yet seen on the latest batch of hypercars are adjustable seats, and a strip of metal in the headrests that can be etched the slogan of a customer’s choice. And in spite of all the firsts for Lotus in this car, there’s one holdover from the Hethel carmaker’s other compact sports cars: A dearth of luggage space. The only cubbies are polygonal-shaped holes in the rear of the door sills.

It doesn’t sound so bad when Catchpole explains it, though, so check out the video.

July 21, 2019 / Comments Off

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The Lotus Evija is the company’s first all-electric hypercar

Internally known as the Type 130, the new Lotus Evija combines several firsts for the British company into one wild shape. First of all, it’s the company’s first in-house all-electric car – the Lotus chassis provided to the likes of Tesla for the first Roadster doesn’t count. It’s also the company’s first hypercar, claiming an astonishing (and provisional) 1,973 horsepower. Perhaps more importantly, it’s the first all-new car from the company since the Evora, and the first to be conceived entirely under the ownership of China’s Geely.

Yup, that’s a lot of firsts. It’s not the first EV hypercar – it’ll have competition from the likes of Rimac and the upcoming Pininfarina Battista, plus the next-gen Tesla Roadster assuming that does eventually hit the market – but it’s definitely early on the scene. And just look at it – the styling is wild, incorporating some continuing Lotus themes – particularly around the greenhouse – but with an overall direction that’s much brasher than the company’s other products. The deep side sculpting resembles is complex and stylized, as are the rounded, narrow quadrangle taillights supported by a massive rear diffuser.

The front is arguably the least distinctive and biggest departure for the company. The verticality of the headlamps seems like a blend of the Ferrari F8 Tributo and the old Lamborghini Gallardo, without really aping either. Look closely and it appears to be an evolution of the shape of the Evora’s lamps, but without that context fresh in your mind it’ll appear more generic supercar than something uniquely Lotus.

The bodywork has some neat party tricks. Active aerodynamics allow for an F1-style Drag Reduction System, and there’s a deployable rear spoiler. There are no fixed side-mirrors; little cameras deploy from the front fenders and another camera embedded in the rear of the roof provides a rear view.

It’s also different. The extruded, bonded aluminum architecture we’re familiar with from the Elise/Exige line and the similar but unique Evora are gone, replaced by a company-first one-piece carbon fiber monocoque tub. Lotus is targeting a curb weight of approximately 3,700 lbs, and the lightweight tub (just 284 lbs) contributes to that. The battery is housed behind the seats, and feeds power to four individual motors, providing all-wheel drive and infinitely variable torque vectoring. It’ll claw its way to 62 mph in less than 3 seconds, says the company, with a top speed exceeding 200 mph.

The battery is a 70 kWh unit, providing a claimed 250 miles of range on the European test cycle and the ability to charge at 350 kW. That’d give an 80% charge in 12 minutes and a full charge in 18 minutes, Lotus says. When 800 kW chargers become available, the battery will have the ability to utilize those.

Handling is provided by spool-valve dampers, which are Multimatic units, but the wild part is that there are three dampers for each axle. Two are located at the corners and control the wheels, with the third mounted inboard to control what Lotus refers to as “heave” – this sounds preliminarily like a sort of pushrod anti-roll system, but we’ll have to learn more about it to be sure.

Lotus claims they’ll limit production to just 130 units, matching the internal vehicle designation. Sure, why not? And it’ll be built out of the company’s base in Hethel, U.K., although it’ll be interesting to learn more about the origin of its component parts. Remember, Geely also owns Volvo (and its Polestar sub-brand) and Lynk & Co., and the Polestar 2 will be produced in China. The company and its subsidiary brands are taking a hard turn towards electrification, and there’s likely to be an economy of scale working in the Evija’s favor.

The Evija will set you back about $2.1 million, the company says. Production starts next year, and a $300k deposit will secure yours. The order books are open, so don’t delay.

July 16, 2019 / Comments Off

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Lotus Lets Loose Another Teaser and Releases the Official Name, Evija

Lotus Will Reveal the Full Car Soon

Lotus couldn’t help but tease its new electric hypercar at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The car company revealed the name of the car as the Evija. This is no surprise. We reported that this would likely be the name not long ago. The company says the name is pronounced ‘ev-eye-a’ and means “the first in existence” or “the living one.” The company’s CEO said this of the name:

Evija is the perfect name for our new car because it’s the first hypercar from Lotus, our first electric offering and is the first new model under the stewardship of Geely. The Evija is a Lotus like no other, yet a true Lotus in every sense. It will re-establish our brand on the global automotive stage and pave the way for further visionary models.

The car will be officially revealed on July 16. Lotus also revealed a new image, which you can see above. We imagine the Evija to be a modern and futuristic design based on this and other teaser images from Lotus. However, we can’t say exactly what it will look like.

Until then, you should know that the car formerly known by its internal designation of Type 130 will be all electric that puts out around 1,000 hp to all four wheels. The range is said to be more than 250 miles. We’re excited to see just what exactly Lotus shows off later this month.

July 3, 2019 / Comments Off

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