Lotus Axes All-Electric Plans, But Not The Way You Wanted

Remember how iconic sports car company Lotus said that it was going all-electric? That under new ownership, the company that was best known for building the lightest cars it possibly could and then making them even lighter would instead build heavy electric cars and even an electric SUV? Well, the company has just changed its mind. The model will make hybrids as it says that customers for its high-dollar models are more reluctant than expected to move to EVs. Sadly, that doesn’t indicate that the Emira recipe will be replicated.

CEO Reveals PHEVs Are Back On The Table

At the recent Guangzhou motor show in China, Lotus confirmed that it was done with the all-electric plan. Instead, as The Wall Street Journal reports, it will make hybrids – “Super Hybrid” technology that will combine ultra-fast charging with a turbocharged combustion engine. The result, said CEO Feng Qingfeng, will be a car that can go 680 miles between stops.

“At Lotus, we have always chosen the best power technology available, whether it’s pure gasoline, pure electric, hybrid or range-extended [EV],” Feng told the Wall Street Journal in an interview.

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Qingfeng told the WSJ that he believed the benefits of EVs were less obvious when it came to luxury cars: “Luxury car engines are already very powerful, and the driving experience is quite similar, with eight-cylinder and 12-cylinder engines performing well.” The more expensive models are already likely to have EV benefits like cabin quiet and low levels of noise and vibration.

Faster Charging, On The Move And From The Plug

Feng had resisted PHEV power for Lotus cars because of the compromises inherent to the system. Extra weight because of larger batteries and the need to plug in every day. Plus, the trouble of only having the gas engine’s power when the battery runs flat and then needing to spread that power in multiple directions. To avoid the problem, Feng said Lotus would make its ICE able to charge the battery pack much more quickly than other cars can. That way, it would never be reliant solely on ICE power.

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This comes soon after the company posted poor 2023 financial results.

The CEO said that the cars will have a 900V electrical system. This would allow charging he described as being faster than a battery swap, though currently, no chargers are available to support those speeds.

Current Lotus models include the Evija, a 2,011-horsepower electric hypercar, the Eletre electric SUV, which has a ridiculous price tag because of China-related tariffs, and the Emeya luxury sedan. It also still builds the Emira, which uses a 2.0-liter AMG four-cylinder or a Toyota V6 and was intended to be the last internal combustion car from the brand.

Lotus is currently owned by Chinese automaker Geely. The parent company also owns Volvo Cars and produces vehicles under multiple brands. Expect tech sharing from one or more of those automakers, or possibly Horse, Geely’s powertrain partnership with Renault, to drive Lotus in this new direction.

Source:
The Wall Street Journal via
Autocar