The world's newest EV hypercar: The Lotus Evija

Lotus, the legendary British automaker, has always been known for its lightweight, purist sports cars with small, high-revving motors and manual gearboxes. Lotuses are heralded for their lightweight dynamics and tactile feel. Today, however, much of that changes. Welcome to the era of the new Lotus Evija, pronounced “Evv-eye-ah”, it’s Britain’s first-ever all-electric hypercar.

The Evija – we’re getting used to the new name, too – is a project born out of collaboration between the small British automaker and Geely, a Chinese auto giant that has also recently partnered with Ford to bring an all-electric version of the Territory crossover to China and is the brand behind Volvo’s recent resurgence. The Evija is its latest attempt to convince even the staunchest supporters of the internal combustion engine of a battery powered future.

The Evija represents a massive departure from Colin Chapman’s now famous mantra of “simplify, then add lightness.” TopGear.com reported that the target weight of the production version of the Evija is 1,680kg (3,703 pounds) in its ‘lightest specification.’ That makes it almost 600 pounds heavier than the current crop of Evoras you can get in the United States.

The power

Luckily, the Evija has the power to make up for the added weight. Lotus says it will make 1,972 horsepower and 1,253lb-ft of torque courtesy of four different motors – one at each wheel – that work in tandem with each other. For reference, the Bugatti Chiron weighs a little more than 4,400 pounds and makes less horsepower and less torque. The new Lotus is also lighter than its closest rival, the Rimac C_Two. It’s already pretty safe to say the Evija is going to be fast.

How fast? Try 0-60 in less than three seconds and on to 186mph in less than 9 seconds fast. If these figures hold up once the Evija is performance tested, the new EV hypercar will be one of the hardest accelerating cars ever made.

The design

While the drivetrain and not-so-low weight isn’t in line with what the world has come to expect from Lotus, the company’s design boss Russell Car says the design most certainly is. He told Top Gear “the prominent muscular haunches and low-mounted cabin has been a feature of Elise and Exige, as well as sports racing cars like Type 11 and Type 40,” says Russell. “The side profile line for the intake of the rear quarter panel Venturi tunnels is reminiscent of that used on the more traditional intakes in the Elise and Exige.”

Lotus is only going to make 130 of the $2.2 million dollar hypercars, it has a range of about 250 miles – though that will drop off dramatically as soon as you start testing its performance claims – and Lotus says, if you have a 350kW charger handy, it’ll be fully charged from flat in 18 minutes. Though, last we checked, there aren’t any operational 350kw chargers in the United States.

The era of the hyper-EV is upon us. Rimac, Pininfarina and now Lotus are all touting incredible cars with power outputs and performance figures never before seen in gas-powered cars, and we can’t wait to see how the battle for EV supremacy plays out.

By Nicholas Yekikian

Borrow is an electric vehicle subscription company with one goal: to make driving an EV as simple and accessible as possible. Borrow is the only electric vehicle subscription service of its kind with a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonizing the everyday drive.