Lotus BEV Claims Most Powerful Car Title

Paul Myles

TU-Editor

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17th July 2019

Lotus is claiming its new BEV hypercar is the most powerful production car in the world producing the equivalent of a whopping 1,972bhp.

The £2M+ ($2.5M) Evija, built on a one-piece carbon fiber monocoque chassis, also claims a massive torque output of 1,253ft-lbs. That power comes courtesy of a 2,000 kW lithium-ion battery pack, supplied with its management system by Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE), who won a 2018 Queen’s Award for Enterprise for translating its EV expertise from the race track to road-going vehicles.

To enhance aerodynamics, weight distribution and handling, the battery pack is mounted centrally behind the passenger compartment and its cover is visible through the glass rear screen. It also guarantees the car’s longevity by making swap outs of old battery packs a relatively simple job and also opens up the possibility of bespoke pack for specialist use, such a race track use.

Power is fed from the battery pack to an in-line axial arrangement of two e-motors. These feature silicon carbide inverters and epicyclic transmission on each axle of the four-wheel drive powertrain.

Torque-vectoring is self-adjusting system and can distribute power to any combination of two, three or four wheels within a fraction of a second. In Track mode the ability to add more power to individual wheels enables the radius of corners to be tightened, potentially reducing lap times.

Naturally, it’s fast claiming a 0-62mph sprint time of under three seconds and a top speed of more than 200mph. At the same time the car claims the world’s fastest charging battery with the ability to accept an 800kW charge. Although charging units capable of delivering this are not yet commercially available, when they are it will be possible to fully replenish the battery in just nine minutes.

Using existing charging, such as a 350kW unit currently the most powerful available, the Evija’s charge time will be 12 minutes to 80% and 18 minutes to 100%. The car’s range is said to be 250 miles on the WLTP combined cycle. The CCS2 charging socket is hidden behind a vented flap at the rear of the car. While there are several hypercars with similar sprint times from standstill because they will always be governed by traction and tire technology, the Evija’s most important performance fugures are those for rolling acceleration.

Matt Windle, executive director, sports car engineering, Lotus Cars, said: “The Lotus Evija has astonishing acceleration at higher speeds. It takes less than nine seconds to reach 300 km/h (186mph) which is better than any other direct competitor.” Further performance figures include acceleration from 62mph to 124mph in less than three seconds and 124mph to 186mph in less than four seconds.

Windle added: “With the Lotus Evija we have an extremely efficient electric powertrain package, capable of delivering power to the road in a manner never seen before. Our battery, e-motors and transmission each operate at up to 98% efficiency. This sets new standards for engineering excellence.”

— Paul Myles is a seasoned automotive journalist based in London. Follow him on Twitter @Paulmyles_