THE FIRST ALL-ELECTRIC BRITISH HYPERCAR IS THE MOST POWERFUL PRODUCTION CAR TO DATE - ALL HAIL THE LOTUS EVIJA!
That’s a pretty big statement to make in this day and age, and coming from an automaker that has so much history we know Lotus means business. One of the aims of the all-electric car was for it to have a power output that made the competition tremble, and with a massive power output that sees the power of TWO THOUSAND horses harnessed, the goal was achieved. This output now gives the new Lotus Evija the title of the world’s most powerful series production road car. When you have things like the twin-turbocharged 6.6-litre V8 Hennessey Venom F5 on the market, that’s quite the feat. It’s also quite scary because the Venom is pretty much at the peak power of what a combustion engine can produce, and while this Evija is currently the most powerful EV setup it’s not going to keep that title for too long, but it's held on to it for around two years already. Internal combustion engines have been used for almost 150 years now and it’s taken that long to get close to 2 000 hp but pure electric EVs on this scale are relatively new and are already able to produce this kind of power.
The car is capable of hitting 100 km/h in less than three seconds with a top speed in excess of 320 km/h, and in the all-electric world where battery weight is a huge factor the Evija also claims the title of the lightest production EV tipping the scales at just 1 680 kg and that helps the car with it’s decent 345 km range. There will only be 130 of these cars available to the public as a nod to the Type 130 Lotus of old. There’s an even more limited-number production run added to the Evija stable though and it’s pretty amazing, especially in the looks department. This version of the Evija celebrates the 50th anniversary of Emerson Fittipaldi and Team Lotus won F1 Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships, hence that awesome styling based on the old John Player Special racecar livery.
The black and gold theme from that Type 72 racecar is iconic, instantly recognisable to long time motorsport fans. On the Evija the theme includes design details like a rotary dial crafted from recycled original Type 72 aluminium as well as Emerson Fittipaldi’s signature that’s been hand-stitched on the dashboard. As is the norm with cars this special, the limited number of available cars are already spoken for and customers should take delivery in 2023.
Take a look at the YouTube video from the chaps at Top Gear where they had a proper look at the Evija along with a proper test drive: Lotus Evija EXCLUSIVE First Drive: fully electric hypercar prototype track tested | Top Gear