Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in Volume I of B.H. Magazine. Purchase your copy here.
There’s nothing remotely sexy about an electric motor. In the world of big-engined fast cars, they’re the Pierce Brosnan: softly spoken, reliable, and effective. But when you’re buying fast and fancy, it’s often something with a wild edge like Charlie Sheen that makes the ride all the more enticing. Or, at least, it’ll give you a better story to tell your mates.
Enter the challenge for engineers embracing the low-emissions world of fast cars. The reality is, electric motors can produce more power and pace than a V12 relatively easily – even one from Ferrari. Throw in superior efficiency and it makes the shift towards them easier to digest.
That shift has been no more dramatic than with British sports car specialist Lotus. With its latest newcomer, the Eletre, the brand known for its lightweight two-doors has eschewed premium unleaded in favour of a pair of electric motors. And the car it’s in is just as un-Lotus: a sizeable, five-seat SUV designed to take on everything from the Lamborghini Urus, and Porsche Cayenne, to the newly minted BMW XM hybrid.
On paper, the Lotus Eletre has copious amounts of firepower to help it play with the big boys. In fact, with a full 675kW and 985Nm, it’s got a fair whack more, out punching anything the supercar world has mustered to date. It’s a phenomenal hit of horsepower, and until the updated Porsche Taycan arrives with 700kW mid-year, the Lotus will be the most powerful car you can bolt number plates onto, in Australia.
Even with 2.6 tonnes of electric portliness, the Eletre boogies harder than Mark Wahlberg. Floor the throttle and it scorches to 100km/h in a smidge under three seconds, all the while challenging
the talents of sticky Pirelli P Zero tyres as they scramble to keep things straight. On a wet strip of bitumen, it can be a wild ride that is guaranteed to keep both hands on the wheel.
In Everyday Tour mode, the Eletre is calm and comfy – it’s when you engage the feistier Track mode when things get a little more electrifying. All that bulk plays its part when you ask the Eletre to change direction swiftly, though. Air suspension and active stabiliser bars do their best to counter the laws of physics, while smothering all but the most determined of bumps. But it’s a lot of metal to coax around a corner, even with active aerodynamic aids that pop up to help pin the car to the road at speed.
Inside, forget the race-inspired cabins of past Lotuses. The Chinese-made Eletre is dripping with leather, glowing in ambient light, and dazzling with vibrant screens front and rear. Its functionality is similar
to what you’d find in a Tesla, making it easy to navigate the various menus – and very different to anything Lotus has done to date.
Plus there are the latest active safety systems that work to keep you on the road, something that comes in handy with all that grunt, especially if it’s wet.
At $315,000, the Eletre is a tantalising taste of the all-electric performance world that lies ahead – and a hefty change of pace for Lotus. What it lacks in character and dynamic finesse it makes up for with blistering acceleration and the sort of everyday sensibilities few high-performance cars come close to.
For some, that may venture a long way from the DNA of the ultimate go-fast SUV. For others, they’ll appreciate the tech and trinkets that turn electrons into something incredibly exciting, and all but uncatchable in a straight line.
