Eletre

 

The first all-electric SUV from Lotus is called the Eletre and it looks like it successfully combines the manufacturer's sports car DNA with the suitability for everyday use of a sports off-road vehicle. Lotus calls the Eletre "a hyper SUV".

Anyone who has heard the name of the car manufacturer Lotus has associated it primarily with light, fast sports cars from England. Hardly anyone thought of an SUV in this context until now. That has to change now.

The majority owner Geely obviously wants to increase the potential customer base. And so Lotus is now introducing an SUV. Based on the Evija, the brand's only battery-electric vehicle to date, the designers from England have developed an off-road vehicle for the motorway that comes very close to the spirit of the legendary sports car.

 

 

The Design

impressive

Lotus Cars Limited

 

The car is an impressive 16.5 ft long and 5.3 ft high. Due to the length and the black painted roof, however, it doesn't look as clumsy as it actually is. The design with many air intakes and air ducts is reminiscent of touring cars, maybe even a bit of the aerodynamics of formula cars. 

The aerodynamic optimization is accompanied by the minimization of the vehicle weight. This is where the spirit of Lotus founder Colin Chapman comes in. For him, the motto was: the lighter, the better. And so the Eletre was consistently trimmed for lightweight construction. The body consists largely of carbon (everything that looks like carbon is really carbon) and aluminum. 

The front of the Eletre is dominated by a grille that has honeycomb-shaped air inlets in the lower area that can be opened and closed individually as required. Above that are the narrow main headlights, which can also be ordered with Matrix technology as an option.

There are daytime running lights above the grille element, which can optionally also display the charge level (SoC) of the battery. At the charging station, you can see from a distance how far the battery is charged. There are large air inlets on the sides, which are able to direct the air to the outside via the wheel arches in a streamlined manner.

 

 

The Tech

Optional

Lotus Cars Limited

 

Optional cameras will be installed instead of the side mirrors. The associated displays are located as high as possible in the driver's door, pretty close to where you would be looking in the exterior mirrors.

According to the carmaker, the Eletre will have Level 2 autonomous driving as standard. Lotus already wants to install the hardware for optional Level 4 autonomy. This includes four retractable LIDAR elements, which are housed at the front and rear of the roof edge and the two front wheel arches, and which extend automatically when they are needed.

The manufacturer then wants to deliver the necessary software later via an over-the-air update (OTA), provided that the option has been ordered. In keeping with the spirit of the times, the Eletre also has a continuous light strip at the rear, into which the indicators are also integrated.

The body is placed on a specially developed, very flat platform. Final specifications have not yet been determined, but the battery will probably be able to store at least 100 kWh of energy. According to WLTP, the Eletre should cover around 373 miles on one charge. According to Lotus, 350 miles can be recharged in 20 minutes at a fast-charging station.

A system voltage of 800 volts (such as in the Porsche Taycan, Kia EV6, and Hyundai Ioniq 5) and up to 350 kW charging power should make this possible. The AC chargers will be able to charge up to 22 kW.

 

 

The Power

Eletre

Lotus Cars Limited

 

For good performance, the developers have given the Eletre an all-wheel drive. They have integrated the controller into the two motors, one per axis, which is intended to save additional weight.

The system output will be at least 447 kW. Even higher performance will probably be offered as an option because the hyper-SUV should be able to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in under three seconds. The speed is only limited to around 160 mph.

Five driving modes should be available (Range, Tour, Sport, Off-Road, and Individual), each of which adjusts the response of the steering, the damper setting, performance, and the acceleration pedal.

 

 

The Interior

Lotus Cars Limited

Lotus Cars Limited

 

The Eletre can be ordered with four individual seats or as a five-seater with a continuous bench seat at the rear. Sustainable interior materials are very important these days and Maserati took care of it.

However, they should have a noble feeling that corresponds to the premium claim of the brand and also be up to 50 percent lighter than conventional materials, which in turn benefits the lightweight construction claim. A particularly clever idea Eletre has is the carbon parts in the interior are made from the recycled remains of the outer skin.

The driving information is shown in a narrow display behind the steering wheel. For the passenger, there is the same display again. In addition, a head-up display should reflect driving information onto the windshield.

A central OLED monitor with a diagonal of 15 inches is used in the middle of the dashboard. Almost all functions should be accessible with a maximum of three clicks via the multi-touch function. The rear occupants get their own 9-inch display with which they can control the air conditioning, for example, in addition to entertainment functions.

Production of the first (of three planned within the next four years) lifestyle EVs is scheduled to start this year in Wuhan (China), because the manufacturer plans to deliver the first vehicles at the beginning of 2023.

 

 

Resources

 

 

Tankut Basar

Tankut Basar is an ARA (American Rally Assoc.) Racing Driver and an FIA Bronze Category License Holder. His passion for driving began with karting like most racers. He started racing internationally at the age of 22. Tankut loves everything car-related and will keep enjoying the drive until the end.

 

 

 

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