After years of waiting, the first SUV in lotus car history, the Eletre electric SUV, has finally arrived. According to LOTUS, the name Eletre means "to come alive" in some Eastern European languages. LOTUS hopes that this car will have the spirit of a lotus traditional sports car, but it also has the practicality of a crossover SUV.
With a length of approximately 5,103 mm x 2007 mm x 1625 mm and a wheelbase of 1626 mm, the Eletre was built on LOTUS's Electric Premium Architecture chassis platform. LOTUS says the electric Eletre's output horsepower starts at 600ps, it has an electric motor on all four axles, and it takes less than 3 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h, with a top speed of 260 km/h. But LOTUS has yet to disclose the Eletre's body weight.
LOTUS only means that the battery capacity exceeds 100 kWh, which gives the Eletre a range of about 600 km (WLTP). The Eletre has a charging power of up to 350 kw. This allows him to travel 400 km in 20 minutes on a charge. In the chassis section, the Eletre is equipped with air pressure suspension with active travel height adjustment. There's also rear-wheel steering and active anti-roll bars.
In the exterior section, Eletre adapted the general design elements of the LOTUS Emira sports car into the shape of an RV, combined with the current popular split light cluster design. Its LED daytime running lights are located on both sides of the hood front edge, similar to the pullback marker, and the main headlights are located at the top of the black intake grille. The guard grille on the front of the Eletre is actively aerodynamically designed with interconnected triangular components that open when the electric motor, battery pack and braking system need to be cooled.
On the side, the Eletre, like Emira and Evija, has a window line rising below the C-pillar; The lines on the body also refer to the design of these two sports cars. At the rear, the spoiler on the rear roof was split into two half-wings, allowing Eletre's rear laser detector to clearly illuminate the road. The Eletre's rear face is concave, with ventilation holes on both sides, a slender light cluster running through the entire rear of the car in the middle of the butt, and a dynamic bumper at the bottom.
In terms of technology, the Eletre is equipped with four LiDAR laser sensors. There are two on the roof, one above the front windshield and one above the rear windshield. In addition, there are parking radar devices on the front and rear sides of the body. In areas permitted by regulations, Eletre will replace exterior mirrors with cameras. LOTUS also claims that Eletre is capable of point-to-point autonomous driving. This technology supports over-the-air updates for future system upgrades.
Inside the car, the area in front of the driver is not a traditional dashboard, but a long and thin digital panel that displays vehicle information. There is also an identical digital panel on the passenger side, but different information is displayed, such as music selections or nearby stores. There is a large 15.1-inch screen on the center console that provides all the necessary information; A HUD head-up display with augmented reality is also standard.
LOTUS Eletre is now available for booking worldwide and they will produce Eletre at a new facility in Wuhan, China. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2023. The first Eletre will be shipped to China, the UK and Europe. In the UK, the pre-order deposit fee is £2,000 (about 20,000 RMB).