Now owned by the Chinese automaker Geely, Lotus is back with a fanfare on the front of the stage with his electric hypercar project developing 2,000 horses. An unusual car for a price that is just as much.
Of all the automobile brands likely to produce an electric hypercar, let’s admit that it is not to Lotus that we would have thought first. And yet, the venerable British brand (which the Chinese Geely is the majority shareholder since 2017) has just made an impression with its latest creation. Called Evija (pronounced E-vi-ya), this racing car promises nothing less than being the most powerful production car in the world with 2,000 horsepower. A record for the theoretical moment since Lotus has not yet launched the production of this hypercar which sports an absolutely superb and spectacular design.
The front mask is reminiscent of the Ferrari SF90. But the comparison stops quickly as soon as we look up at the hood where two air intakes start and extend on the doors and end with two huge outputs circled with LED lighting. It is undeniably back that the Lotus Evija is the most haunting. Its butterfly doors without handles open with pressure on the remote control and discreet retractable cameras act as exterior mirrors.
The 0 to 300 km / h in less than 9 seconds
The cabin is in keeping with a very futuristic but sober design and a spectacular floating center console whose buttons take a honeycomb pattern found on the brake pedal and accelerator. Let’s come now to the performances targeted by Lotus. Note that these are objectives and not definitive specifications validated for the series model.
The Evija adopts an all-wheel-drive with four electric motors developing the equivalent of 2,000 horsepower for a torque of 1,700 Nm. To pass such power on the ground, Lotus will use the vectorization of torque. On this basis, the manufacturer announces a 0 to 100 km / h under the bar of three seconds, the 0 to 300 km / h in less than nine seconds and a speed maximum of 320 km / h which seems almost modest given the specifications.
The Evija will be equipped with a 2,000 kW battery delivering 70 kW/h, whose autonomy is estimated at 400 kilometers in the WLTP cycle. This will be one of the first electric cars compatible with 350 kW fast chargers that will allow it to fully recharge in 18 minutes. As you must be aware, such a machine will be absolutely not within the reach of all scholarships. Lotus announces a price of about 1.7 million euros excluding taxes and options. The Evija will be produced 130 copies from next year.