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Lotus Evija: $3 million hypercar unveiled, three on the cards for Australia

Lotus has finally stopped the tease and revealed its all-electric rival to the Aston Martin Valkyrie, the Evija, and three of them could be headed to our shores.


Lotus Australia has confirmed it's received three local expressions of interest for the Evija, with just 130 examples to be built worldwide. It'll cost £250,000 ($440,000) to secure a build slot, and the total price is £1.7 million – equivalent to around $3 million.

There are plenty of 'firsts' with the Evija, but we'll start with the pure-electric powertrain. With an electric motor and a gearbox (supplied by Xtrac) on each wheel, the all-electric hypercar makes 2000Nm of torque and is expected to offer 1470kW, good for a sub-three-second sprint to 100km/h.

It'll keep going, too, running from 100km/h to 200km/h in under three seconds, and 200km/h to 300km/h in less than four seconds. All of which means if you were to bury the throttle from standstill, the Evija will be doing 300km/h in less than 10 seconds. Flat out you'll be doing more than 340km/h.

Lotus says the car will be able to sustain its performance over repeated runs, thanks to its "advanced aerodynamics and four-radiator cooling package". On track, that translates to seven minutes of flat-out driving without any "derate" in battery performance.

Because there's a motor on each wheel, the Evija is capable of proper torque vectoring, shuffling torque to the wheel with the most traction – or to the outside wheel in a corner – for quicker lap times. Working with the fancy torque vectoring system is a more conventional ESP system.

Nestled within the carbon-fibre chassis is a 70kWh Williams Advanced Engineering battery pack, capable of charging at 800kW. The fastest commercial DC chargers can currently charge at 350kW, however.

Hooked up to an ultra high-speed public DC charger the Evija will charge to 80 per cent in 12 minutes, and 100 per cent in 18 minutes. Range is pegged at 400km on the more difficult WLTP test cycle.

On the design front, the Evija is all about aerodynamics. The rear is dominated by a huge diffuser, above which sits an active rear wing that elevates to sit proud of the bodywork when required. A Formula 1-style drag reduction system (DRS) is also standard, capable of activating automatically or being manually operated.

There aren't any wing mirrors for better aero, with Lotus instead opting for pop-out cameras on the flanks, and a rear-facing camera in place of a normal rear-view mirror.

Under the skin, the Evija has a 'motorsport-inspired' suspension with three adaptive spool-valve dampers on each axle, mounted inboard to facilitate the shrink-wrapped bodywork.

Magnesium wheels measuring 20 inches up front and 21 inches at the rear are standard, wrapped in Pirelli Trofeo R tyres. Braking is handled by carbon-ceramic AP Racing discs at all four corners.

Lotus hasn't devoted any time to describing its regenerative braking system, but we'd suggest the AP Racing hardware will be supported by a regenerative system designed to harvest energy under deceleration.

The cabin has more than a hint of McLaren about it, thanks to the slim, gloss-black centre console. It's covered in a honeycomb pattern, and houses capacitative buttons for the climate control and infotainment.

The driver is faced with digital readout, and grasps an LMP1-style steering wheel covered in buttons. There are no paddles or column stalks behind the wheel.

Not that the 130 buyers are likely to be overly concerned, but Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard fit. It's track-focused, but the Evija has been designed with road use in mind as well.

Customisation will be at the core of the Evija's appeal. Owners will be able to choose from a raft of unique paint finishes, interior trims and body details – Lotus says owners will be able to choose a design and have it inlayed in the C-pillar, to really help it out from the 129 other examples out there.

Production of the Evija will begin in 2020, priced from £1.7 million ($3 million).

 

Lotus Evija specs 

Power - 1470kW (target)

Torque - 1700Nm

Battery capacity - 70kWh

Peak charge speed - 800kW

0-100km/h - under 3.0 seconds

0-300km/h - under 9.0 seconds

Top speed - over 320km/h

Weight - 1680kg

Dimensions (L/W/H) - 4459/2000/1122mm

Price - £1.7 million

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