Type 130 - Lotus Evija

[Stubox]

Anyone posted a pic of the Multimatic inboard rear suspension through the glass panel....asking for a geek 😁

[cobwatch]

Gorgeous looking car. There will have to be some changes to the styling/aero for the inclusion of number plate mounting. Not sure about the utility of those motorised cameras. Neat mind. Most exciting to me though...hopefully we are looking at a close basis for the new Esprit. Standard doors and mirrors, but otherwise, if it is EV only as i expect, much of the aero emphasis can be retained. 

Twice the price i was expecting, but also twice the power. In track mode i wonder how quickly the batteries will discharge. 30 minutes? Less?

I am going to cobble together a speculative (very) Hethel lap time based on power to weight and assumptions about aero, grip, torque vectoring. Should be mighty...fun if nothing else.

Lotus will already have taken orders and well done to everybody. The future appears bright with Geely.

 

[LotusDan]

The next generation of production cars (currently in development) will be combustion, though as mentioned earlier they will take design cues from the Type 130.

[Simon Bateman]

My first thought was that it still looks like a proper car......

I feel that it would have been impossible for Russell Carr to commit to something that didn't work in the real world.  That's just not Lotus.

A few people have said that it's more Supercar than Hypercar......I think the Valkyrie is the reason for that, but that car aside, I think it compares well with the P1, 918 and La Ferrari.  The Senna is a bit of a red herring in some respects.  It's a great machine, but a bit pig ugly to my eyes.  

Given that the initial designs started 2 years ago, I find myself thinking that Carr was maybe asked to start designing a halo car without having a full and final brief.  The 130 could almost have been dialled down a bit and ended up as an Esprit.  I could be wrong on that and I'm still slightly sceptical about real world range and actual charging times away from the high capacity chargers mentioned to get the times down to 10 and 18 minutes quoted

As a stand alone design......10/10 and a great step forward for the brand and the future. 

 

[The Pits]

If a new Esprit ever happens it will be very expensive and a long way off. Best to enjoy the old one and wait and see what Lotus comes out with next.

We wouldn’t have an Esprit if Lotus had been hung up on nostalgia. It was very bold and resolutely forward looking. The Evija is the shape of things to come and looks to be taking Lotus places beyond Dany Bahar’s wildest dreams!

[LotusLeftLotusRight]

Wonderful thing. Not quite as sci-fi to look at as I expected, but all the better for that in my opinion. 

One question: why the thing about the yellow only Lotus Cavalcade prior to the unveiling? I was slightly disappointed by the chosen colour of silver for the launch car. I think a more interesting bright colour would have been more impressive than the retail silver favoured by German brands.

[Nathan Pitman]

57 minutes ago, LotusDan said:

The next generation of production cars (currently in development) will be combustion, though as mentioned earlier they will take design cues from the Type 130.

Given that the Halo car is all electric it would surprise me greatly if they didn't use hybrid tech. But we will see!

[red vtec]

some on twitter (including an F1 owner ) are saying its going away from Lotus origins, being to heavy and to expensive. And it will never be built.  They are saying Lotus is lightweight and cheaper  and its point was it beat the more expensive rivals, by being that. Not sure if that's correct.

I think it looks a stunning vehicle. 

 

[vd9]

Other than ~70hp more and ~50kWh less, how is this materially different from Pininfarina Battista and the likes? 

[cobwatch]

Concerning my earlier posting about battery life...the Evija is able to be driven flat out for 7 minutes (before the batteries begin to lose performance). Clearly more than enough for a Nurburgring effort...

[nello]

Looks fantastic - where was the launch held?

[Bibs]

At the Royal Horticultural Society in Victoria. Guest were first invited to Sea Containers Hotel and transported over in the Lotus Double Decker! Very impressive evening to be fair, very professional throughout. 

[ramjet]

'Az it got a cupholder then?

Where do I put me bag?

 

[The Pits]

27 minutes ago, vd9 said:

Other than ~70hp more and ~50kWh less, how is this materially different from Pininfarina Battista and the likes? 

Massively more downforce and weighs about the same as a Ford Focus RS. Neither Batista nor Rimac Concept Two are aiming for much downforce and weigh closer to a Bentley Continental. So with more power, a lot less weight, huge downforce and Lotus handling it should be in a different class altogether around corners. In that respect it’s unique for a road legal EV.

[Stirling_Villeneuve]

53 minutes ago, Nathan Pitman said:

Given that the Halo car is all electric it would surprise me greatly if they didn't use hybrid tech. But we will see!

Has to be... it's something Lotus can lead the field on, very excited to see where this leads. 

[AK70]

The short version:  Woow! 

Very well done Lotus!

[mayevora]

11 hours ago, Bibs said:

That is correct. 250 mile range too and don't forget 0-185 is sub 9 seconds! 

Bibs. Any news on when The Lotus Forums long term test car will be arriving? 😜

[Bibs]

Who says I didn't drive that one home?

[Stubox]

11 minutes ago, Bibs said:

Who says I didn't drive that one home?

Because you need a dinghy or hovercraft to get home..😁

[electro_boy]

I think this is starting to make EV tack car viable.  From what I hear, the VW group will soon be rolling out their 300KW chargers so you can top the Evija in ~20mins and if the batteries can hang on for ~20 mins round a track this could be a very viable track play thing for the wealthy.

Obviously you're not going to see every track with a super rapid charger eg I don't see Thruxton getting one installed any time soon but I can see the big tracks such as Silverstone, Spa, Yas Marina etc where these kind of super expensive and rare play things are occasionally used, would install one in the not too distant future if we get more high performance sports cars being released.

Or how powerful are the diesel generators that Formula E uses to charge their cars?  Possibly the owner of an Evija can rent out for the day?

[PAR]

36 minutes ago, electro_boy said:

Or how powerful are the diesel generators that Formula E uses to charge their cars?

Side note to say the FIA really need to get that sorted (ie banned) as it clearly makes no sense to have electric cars charged with Diesel engines!

i am curious to see if/how quick it sell out. They clearly have mark of interest for a fair bit of potential cars. It does feel like though that the target market will be very close to the Pininfarina, I doubt they will both sell out. I guess the pininfarina guys were the least happy of what was going on yesterday night.

it will probably be down to the commercial teams to know which one will sell most. I hope they will give updates on sale. 

Aston is making 1m of EBITDA margin per Valkyrie, I wonder what this car will make for Lotus.

[Neal H]

Another upside - no problems with track noise limits!

Given the EU rule that electric vehicles have to make a noise, will you be able to choose the sountrack - V6, V8, V12

 

[electro_boy]

Yep it is absolutely ridiculous they have generators powered by fossil fuels and also swapping cars as the batteries can't last a full race. I get its a bit of chicken and egg situation, where the tech needs to grow before its viable in a race series but then we need the race series to push development for the tech ... but I think it could have been handled better.

 

Regarding the sales, I think there is room in the market to sell 130 Evija's.  I don't know how many Pininfarina are intending to sell but if its a similar number then think they should both sell out.

I sure I read somewhere the boss or someone high up at Aston Martin said they could have sold 5 times the allocation for the Valkyrie but they kept the limit to keep it exclusive and they have a pipeline of new cars that they intend to bring out after the Valkyrie.  I'm sure there is a bit of salesmanship in that but I'm sure there is also some truth in it too.  So there are certainly more very wealthy car fans in the world than I would have predicted!

[electro_boy]

Why limit your self to noises of current engines?  I'd have Star Wars pod racer sounds coming out of mine! 😄

[webfoot]

So ...the morning after reflection and after reviewing the impact on the internet.....my thoughts...

• I expected the styling to be more "way out".  On reflection I think it better for not going that way.  The rear end does give it some wow factor, but that comes from the tunnels which are there for a purpose not just mad bling.
• Inside... love the fact there is no massive touch-screen.  Simple to use buttons, less distraction from driving.
• Nice to see Russell Carr lead the show and tell (with no grade C Hollywood has-been in sight).
• Performance figures. They have gone for the "massive slog for six over square leg" (that's hit the ball out of the ball park for our US friends).  That will grab attention and get them plenty of media coverage.
• Development time has been pretty quick. Hope we don't get lots of delays.  Wouldn't be surprised if 2020 delivery is more like Q3/4.
• Internet chatter is mostly positive.  Probably as expected, there is some snide comments of the vapourware "believe it when i see it" type.  Now it is VITAL that Lotus/Geely deliver the car with the quoted stats.  If they don't then it would be another Bahar PR disaster.  Keeping my fingers firmly crossed but my confidence is high that they are confident in doing it.
• How long 'till we get the Hethel lap time?
•  Left hand drive only.  Not available in the USA.  Still think given the splash it's made that they can sell 130.

Edited July 17, 2019 by webfoot
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