Lotus have recently completed testing, including cold-weather testing at the Arctic Circle for their upcoming four-door sedan with coupé-style sloping roofline – the Emeya. Lotus call it a Hyper-GT, and it’s hard to argue with a 2.78 seconds time for 0 to 100 km/h and a top speed of 256 km/h .
Lotus spent three-years for the testing and development of the Emeya and this spanned 15 different countries. Some of the places Lotus took their electric sedan include British B-roads, German autobahn, Alpine passes and even Inner Mongolia. Lotus also took the Emeya to the Nürburgring Nordschleife and the famous Nardò proving grounds. The british marque recently concluded the final phase of testing – in the Arctic Circle – to ensure the Emeya can handle temperatures of -40° C.
The Arctic testing was primarily focused on fine-tuning the suspensions, steering, brakes and traction and stability controls on various cold-weather surfaces such as ice and snow. They also were conducting testing and development of bespoke Lotus winter tyres that the Emeya will come shod with. Lotus also tested ADAS functions in conditions where road markings and traffic signs may be obscured by ice and snow. Lithium-ion batteries are famously weak at extremely cold climates, so that was another factor of Lous’ testing regime. Finally, it wouldn’t do well if the climate control packs up in such extreme temperatures, so that was rigorously tested as well. Speaking of the climate control, the Emeya can be preheated or pre-cooled from the Lotus app, depending on the requirement, even before the driver enters the vehicle.
To ensure fault-free operation at the other extreme of the temperature, Lotus took the Emeya to places where the average temperature is 40 degree celsius, in the Middle East, United States and Australia.
The Emeya will come equipped with two powertrains – a 612-hp / 710-Nm one and a massive 9018-hp / 985-Nm one. The battery pack is a generous 102-kWh one, which should provide a range on par with the Lotus Eletre crossover SUV, which packs between 418-507 km. The Eletre is built on an 800-volt architecture, just like Eletre, which means if you can find a 350-kW charger, you can charge it up from 10 to 80 per cent in just 18 minutes. For infotainment there’s a 15.1-inch touchscreen, but Lotus says an even bigger 55-inch augmented-reality head-up display will be offered too, and will project critical info directly on the windscreen.
We expect the Lotus Emeya to reach our shores within a few months of its international launch, at which point it will rival the likes of the Audi e-tron GT, Mercedes EQS and Porsche Taycan among other electric super sedans.
