Evija?

[JLv3.0]

Yep - and anyone who's ever been in a Tesla is likely to agree.

Just how many people have actually spent time in a purely electrically powered vehicle? Hybrids don't count.

[Mito Man]

Yeah but it’s like 9 seconds of balls to the wall excitement - that’s practically sex in my book!

[GG.]

Except not over as quickly.

[RobYob]

Yep - and anyone who's ever been in a Tesla is likely to agree.

Just how many people have actually spent time in a purely electrically powered vehicle? Hybrids don't count.

Quite enjoyed punting various BEVs around B-roads actually, nicely responsive if you account for the weight.

That 0-186 time though if not a pure fantasy is quite something. Averaging nearly 1g of acceleration with the right aero numbers, gearing and tyres it could also be a potential 300mph vmax.

[mik]

Somebody playing with (classic lotus) colour schemes....

[JonMad]

Someone on the Loltus forum pulled this together.

0-186mph times

Porsche 991 GT3RS - 40.8

McLaren 540C - 31.5

Ferrari F40 - 31.0

McLaren 570S - 27.7

McLaren 600LT - 26.6

McLaren 675LT - 23.5

991 GT2 - 22.9

McLaren 720S - 19.7

La Ferrari - 15.7

Bugatti Veyron Supersport - 14.6

McLaren Speedtail - 12.8 seconds.

Pininfarina Battista - under 12 seconds.

Lotus Evija < 9 seconds.

Where does the Valkyrie and an F1 car fit into this?

[mik]

Amusing from boatshoes....

Really, all the negativity round here, and it could be avoided with one small styling change.

[nuttinnew]

[duncs500]

Looks teh awsumz to me.

[ShockDiamonds]

Yep - and anyone who's ever been in a Tesla is likely to agree.

Just how many people have actually spent time in a purely electrically powered vehicle? Hybrids don't count.

Quite enjoyed punting various BEVs around B-roads actually, nicely responsive if you account for the weight.

That 0-186 time though if not a pure fantasy is quite something. Averaging nearly 1g of acceleration with the right aero numbers, gearing and tyres it could also be a potential 300mph vmax.

Here's the thing. It's a Lotus. Yet it weighs 1.7 tonnes. Which is inevitable currently, given how it's propelled. Not even Lotus can prevent that. Yes it'll be utterly ballistic down a drag strip but so what? 186mph through North Wales for example? It's completely irrelevant. So you get to the corners after another gut-wrenching sluice down a straight and your Lotus is ultimately compromised by the weight it's carrying. Probably low down, good CoG, and probably therefore able to zip around the bend pretty quickly. But with that lovely 'flight' feeling of a Lotus? One wonders whether the connection will be there. It'll do the numbers in a straight line because of the motors, and do the numbers in the bends because of the sheer mass.

Another thing which occurs to me. When the motor car was new, every Tom, Dick and Harry was in the business of making cars. All knocking out their own engines. This electric car revolution, in the last, what, 5 years or so has given us several new names all making bombastic battery-powered vehicles. I wonder how many will be around in 20 years time, like those early marques 100 years ago. Presumably installing four motors and a whacking great battery is a lot cheaper (because they're using somebody else's gear in a lot of cases, not building their own) and a damn sight quicker than developing a high revving (and much lighter) V8 drivetrain and calling that the Evija? And don't tell me it's because of legislation, because Gordon Murray seems to be finding a way around it...? I can understand these companies, Lotus too, exploiting battery tech but as daft as this may sound, given the weight penalties, I'm not entirely sure it's actually progress.

</soapbox>

[Jobbo]

I love the amount of discussion about this which assumes it will ever (a) exist in driveable form, and (b) achieve the quoted acceleration figures.

At least small British sports car makers are now producing models of vehicles which are more ambitious than the stuff that sent them broke in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s etc...

[ShockDiamonds]

I love the amount of discussion about this which assumes it will ever (a) exist in driveable form, and (b) achieve the quoted acceleration figures.

At least small British sports car makers are now producing models of vehicles which are more ambitious than the stuff that sent them broke in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s etc...

True. I don't knock the ambition. I knock the lack of thought and challenge it represents. It's just another motor-in-each-corner mega G motor with zero relevance (because being pure EV alone doesn't make it relevant IMHO).

[RobYob]

Another thing which occurs to me. When the motor car was new, every Tom, Dick and Harry was in the business of making cars. All knocking out their own engines. This electric car revolution, in the last, what, 5 years or so has given us several new names all making bombastic battery-powered vehicles. I wonder how many will be around in 20 years time, like those early marques 100 years ago. Presumably installing four motors and a whacking great battery is a lot cheaper (because they're using somebody else's gear in a lot of cases, not building their own) and a damn sight quicker than developing a high revving (and much lighter) V8 drivetrain and calling that the Evija? And don't tell me it's because of legislation, because Gordon Murray seems to be finding a way around it...? I can understand these companies, Lotus too, exploiting battery tech but as daft as this may sound, given the weight penalties, I'm not entirely sure it's actually progress.

</soapbox>

Yes, but back when cars were new so was mass production. Did you read the PH article on Singer? They got no economies of scale at 75 units, each one might as well have been a one off.

So even if the new players have fantastic and fantastically cheap EV tech, unless they've got economy of scale on their side for everything else they will struggle without an OEM "big brother" to provide the mass production muscle IMHO.

I'm not sure the "whacking" great battery is entirely stable in terms of mass production yet either, it seems like there's plenty of potential competing chemistries, techniques and installations that may quickly make current tech obsolete. If tomorrow Tesla says their Roadster will come with 200kWh and 2000hp at under 2t then that obliterates the offerings from Pininfarina, Lotus et al before they even get to market.

Lotus' now completely defunct lightweight high revving V8 they were going to have was outsourced anyway.

Today's PH opinion piece on the Evija is pertinent, with the tech as it stands it was the best Lotus/Williams could deliver. Everyone would love an Evora EV with 500bhp and half the weight of Evija but today that would still have a half million price tag.

[Mito Man]

As we approach the twilight years of the IC engine it’s a bit of a shame we’re not getting something crazy as a last hurrah. You don’t need to build an electric car to show the future of your company, legislation will do that. You don’t need to build an electric car to show how advanced your tech is currently. It will be dated in 3 years time. You’re not even building the key tech yourself...

BMW come to mind, god knows how much money they lost on the BMWi program, they were the first mainstream manufacturer to invest in the future in a big way and arguably leading the way 5 years ago. Today they’re 5 years behind in electric tech with the worst range and power. They’ve scrapped the i3 and i8 and won’t be replacing them. All that for nought.

[Jimmy Choo]

This is not a car that Lotus have designed to actually exist as a car for driving. It's a marketing tool to advertise to other car manufacturers that Lotus can do all sorts of whizzy stuff for your new electric car design.

[ShockDiamonds]

Another thing which occurs to me. When the motor car was new, every Tom, Dick and Harry was in the business of making cars. All knocking out their own engines. This electric car revolution, in the last, what, 5 years or so has given us several new names all making bombastic battery-powered vehicles. I wonder how many will be around in 20 years time, like those early marques 100 years ago. Presumably installing four motors and a whacking great battery is a lot cheaper (because they're using somebody else's gear in a lot of cases, not building their own) and a damn sight quicker than developing a high revving (and much lighter) V8 drivetrain and calling that the Evija? And don't tell me it's because of legislation, because Gordon Murray seems to be finding a way around it...? I can understand these companies, Lotus too, exploiting battery tech but as daft as this may sound, given the weight penalties, I'm not entirely sure it's actually progress.

</soapbox>

Yes, but back when cars were new so was mass production. Did you read the PH article on Singer? They got no economies of scale at 75 units, each one might as well have been a one off.

So even if the new players have fantastic and fantastically cheap EV tech, unless they've got economy of scale on their side for everything else they will struggle without an OEM "big brother" to provide the mass production muscle IMHO.

I'm not sure the "whacking" great battery is entirely stable in terms of mass production yet either, it seems like there's plenty of potential competing chemistries, techniques and installations that may quickly make current tech obsolete. If tomorrow Tesla says their Roadster will come with 200kWh and 2000hp at under 2t then that obliterates the offerings from Pininfarina, Lotus et al before they even get to market.

Lotus' now completely defunct lightweight high revving V8 they were going to have was outsourced anyway.

Today's PH opinion piece on the Evija is pertinent, with the tech as it stands it was the best Lotus/Williams could deliver. Everyone would love an Evora EV with 500bhp and half the weight of Evija but today that would still have a half million price tag.

Mass production came along when the car was already 20-odd years old. But with your first two paras we appear to be saying the same thing. Don't Rimac and Tesla provide more of the battery tech these days? Perhaps not, but that's what I thought. My point is, that is an enabler for this current vogue of electric-powered missiles.

[mik]

Today's PH opinion piece on the Evija is pertinent, with the tech as it stands it was the best Lotus/Williams could deliver. Everyone would love an Evora EV with 500bhp and half the weight of Evija but today that would still have a half million price tag.

Interesting indeed.

I reckon it will get built if they get some pre-order interest. If you are a bajillionaire then the performance trumps all of your mates. The end. Being a bajillionaire and actually being a CG is probably a venn diagram with a pretty small overlap.

[RobYob]

This is not a car that Williams have designed to actually exist as a car for driving. It's a marketing tool to advertise to other car manufacturers that Williams can do all sorts of whizzy stuff for your new electric car design.

FTFY.

[Holley]

It's just a Halo model to gather momentum for EV sports cars. Halo's need to be mental, to push the boundaries of what's possible. If they can get 2000hp on the road, why scale back? Just go bat shit crazy on it.

Also 1.65 tonnes is less than a GTR, an Aventador or any current V12 Ferrari or V12 Aston. So not bad I think.

[duncs500]

As we approach the twilight years of the IC engine it’s a bit of a shame we’re not getting something crazy as a last hurrah.

Hybrid it may be, but the Valkyrie is surely this?