Electric Only Option for Lotus Evija Powertrain

Philip Oakley

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20th November 2019

Only an electric powertrain could achieve the performance Lotus wanted for the 2000hp Evija hypercar.

This comes from Matt Windle, Lotus’s Executive Director of Sports Car Engineering. He told TU-Automotive: “We wouldn’t have been able to achieve the same performance from an internal combustion engine, and we were very keen to hit the performance targets we’d set, which was around 2000hp as a nice, round number.”

The car has four electric motors generating 493 bhp each, totaling 1,973 bhp. “This was a compromise between weight and performance, but we don’t think it’s the maximum that can be achieved,” Windle said.

As part of that, the car has been designed to be upgradeable. “So theoretically, a customer could bring their Evija to us and we could upgrade it. The motors are easily accessible, the battery pack drops out of the bottom of the car. There won’t be more powerful versions of the Evija, we’re only making 130, but if we improve the motors or battery we could offer customers the chance to upgrade,” Windle told us.

Lotus is also investigating other methods of propulsion, including hydrogen fuel cell. Windle said: “We’re investigating hydrogen fuel cell, because it’s interesting, but I think it has a long way to go yet as it’s not very efficient right now. I was in China with Geely and we looked at some fuel cell vehicles, though, so we are not closed to them at all.”