You knew it was going to be electric, you also knew what it would be called, but with four electric motors and 2,000 hp and 1,700 Nm (the Bugatti Chiron has 1,500 hp and 1,600 Nm), the Lotus Evija will be the world’s most powerful production hypercar come 2020.
Lotus purists would no doubt be taken aback, despite being carbon fibre bodied, the Evija tips the scales at 1680 kg, making it the heaviest Lotus to date. But in its defence, it weighs no more than a Porsche 918 hybrid with less than half the power. What happened to ‘simplify, then add lightness’?
Lotus did not reveal specific performance numbers but you can imagine how ridiculously fast it will be with four electric motors (each generating 500 hp) and all four wheels clawing on the road. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect a 0-100 km/h figure in the low 2.0-second region and a top speed in excess of 350 km/h. Lotus claims the Evija takes less than 9 seconds from idle to 300 km/h!
We aren’t sure how long the two-seater Evija will be able to sustain high velocities, to that end there’s a mid-mounted 70 kWh lithium ion battery pack that’s supposed to offer 400 km of range per full charge, based on the stricter WLTP testing cycle, and you can top it up to 100% in 18 minutes on existing rapid chargers, or 9 minutes on 800kW chargers when they become available.
Then there’s the price, starting from £1.7 million (that’s pound sterling) or around RM 9 million, before tax – easily the most expensive Lotus ever, but with only 130 units to be produced, all of which are left-hand drive, the billionaires of the world will no doubt snap it up faster than you can mutter ‘Ee-vee-yaaa’. In case you are wondering, the deposit to secure a slot is £250,000.
Finally, there’s the small matter of how the Evija looks, which Lotus says is based on ‘the concept of porosity’, which purportedly hails from the word ‘porous’, or a lot of holes where air or liquid can flow through. From the back, the massive venturi tunnels look like they can accommodate a passenger each (lying down), and with the rear wing extended, the Evija looks like a deep sea exploration vehicle. Will it sink or swim? Tell us.
