How does the track king of the fuel era continue to be brilliant in the era of intelligent electric?
This is a proposition of the times that is related to the survival of ultra-luxury brands and the belief in cars.
Recently, Lotus, a world-renowned sports car and racing car manufacturer, has once again focused its public attention on the ultra-luxury track with a pure electric Hyper SUV called the Eletre. What should a million-dollar ultra-luxury sports car look like in the era of intelligent electricity? How do companies switch tracks? And how to participate in this e-racing about the future?
Lotus, though not the first to turn in, gave an enlightening reference answer.
01
What a "milestone" should look like
Milestone - Lotus "Vision80" brand revival plan, the positioning of its first life car Eletre.
Eletre is the central turning point in Lotus's transformation into an electrified, intelligent, high-performance car brand.
Ultra-luxury sports car brand SUVs are actually not new.
Porsche relies on cayenne and macan to achieve a qualitative change in global sales from tens of thousands to 300,000 units; Urus provides "blood" for the sustainability of Lamborghini's electrification transformation; and Ferrari's first SUV, the Purosangue (tentatively scheduled), will be unveiled at the end of this year.
However, unlike the "friendly businessman" who still starts from the fuel era, Lotus organically combines the sports car gene with pure electricity, intelligence and ultra-luxury, giving Eletre the ability to "grab position" and "position" as a million SUVs in the era of pure electric intelligence.
First of all, it is to "draw" the appearance of a million-level supercar SUV.
Although the current round of new energy trends that began with Tesla has only been more than ten years, the shape of electric vehicles has been distinguished from the visual impact brought by fuel vehicles at the beginning of the transformation, and gradually entered the aesthetic fatigue brought about by homogeneous appearance. As a million-dollar pure electric supercar, Eletre needs to give new surprises.
"For the high-performance automotive design team, Eletre is an invaluable demonstration of our creative thinking." Peter Horbury, senior vice president of design at Lotus Group, said.
Eletre
The Eletre cockpit's forward-shifting, ultra-long wheelbase and ultra-short front-and-rear overhanging body attitude combine the new space advantages from pure electric drive and complement the iconic layout of the Lotus sports car's mid-engine, which is full of "inductive".
At the same time, Lotus applies 7 sets of Race-Aero air ducts, active down intake grilles and other supercar "exclusive" active aerodynamic kits to the Eletre. Not only does it completely distinguish it from the fuel vehicle category in appearance, but it is also unique even in the pure electric market.
However, to become a pure electric supercar SUV in the true sense of the word, the industry's top technology and performance enough to convince the public is fundamental.
As the first model to apply Lotus's EPA edge evolution architecture, the Eletre has achieved the basic performance advantages of a wide body and low center of gravity. On this basis, Eletre's full range of four-wheel drive and nearly 1000hp maximum power provide an excellent guarantee for the driving experience.
In the field of pure electric power, the performance of Eletre is also ultra-luxurious. It is equipped with a super 100kWh power battery, which can replenish 400 kilometers in only 20 minutes under 350kW charging conditions, and the maximum cruising range can reach 600 kilometers under the world's most stringent WLTP standard.
On top of the unique appearance and supercar performance, ultra-luxury intelligent technology completely distinguishes Eletre from a number of traditional supercar brands and new car manufacturing forces, opening up a blue ocean in the million-level market.
Eletre has a lot of black technology buried in the whole car. It is equipped with a hardware combination of 4 lidar, ultra-high-definition camera and 4D millimeter wave radar, which is set for high-level intelligent driving assistance capabilities; the intelligent cockpit composed of 5 large screens and two Qualcomm 8155 chips behind it not only has rich infotainment functions, but also takes the human-computer interaction experience to a new high.
Eletre interior
Adhering to Lotus's "unnecessary, no-use" simplicity philosophy, Eletre's UI/UX creates a lightweight, intelligent and immersive human-computer interaction experience. In terms of lightweight, 95% of the functional operations in the car can be completed with less than three clicks; in terms of intelligence, users can personalize the functions of the whole vehicle; in terms of immersion, the "theater-style moment" full of ritual sense runs through the whole process of the owner's car from beginning to end.
Through the trinity of appearance, performance and intelligent technology, Eletre draws the first standard line for the million-level SUV market in the era of pure electricity.
As Matt Windle, General Manager of Lotus Automotive, said at the previous press conference: "The Eletre is a bold and revolutionary model that sets the benchmark for Lotus to enter a new automotive segment and will allow more users around the world to experience Lotus's extraordinary charm." We believe Eletre will be favored by users who prefer automotive performance, bringing different options to existing players in the market. “
02
Still Lotus
With such an innovative breakthrough, is the Eletre still a Lotus?
This is also a problem that many supercar brands are repeatedly challenged at the moment. The KNOW HOW accumulated by the automobile industry over the past century, the heavy track laurel of the supercar brand, is it a burden or a wealth in the era of pure electricity? Lotus gave his answer through Eletre.
The ultra-running Eletre can easily achieve zero hundred acceleration within 3 seconds. But unlike other pure electric models that rely on the acceleration of high-power motors to "stack", Eletre's "break 3" comes from aerodynamics - this Lutes 74 year of racing track unique skills.
Lotus Type 79
In 1978, the Lotus Type 79 racing car dressed in the "ground effect" pneumatic kit turned out to be a special kit shape, so that the air through the bottom of the car accelerated in the narrow area between the body and the ground to form a low pressure zone, and the flexible "side skirt" was used to "seal" the bottom of the car, thus generating great downforce, "sucking" the car on the track, greatly shortening the cornering time, thereby improving the car's lap performance.
The pneumatic kit was so effective that 1978 was dubbed the "ground effect year" in F1 history.
Using aerodynamics, after Lotus beat Ferrari in F1, Enzo Ferrari, who had been dismissive of aerodynamics, praised from the bottom of his heart: "Lotus is doing a real automotive research work. ”
Eletre brings this technological jewel on the Formula 1 track to everyday life.
Porous design
One of the core design elements of Eletre is the pore design, which reflects the iconic elements of the Lotus sports car. Derived from aerodynamic principles, the design is a clever use of airflow up and down the body, inside and outside the body.
The most obvious pore design is located on the front edge of the car body, effectively directing the flow of air and discharging through the two vents above the hood. Multiple porosity designs can be seen behind the front arch, behind the rear wheels, and even on top of the D-pillar.
Eletre's application of aerodynamics is not only reflected in the body design, but also in the application of various "black technologies".
Flipable lidar
Among them, the lidar located at the top of the windshield and at the front wheel arch will only be flipped and revealed when needed, and the daily "stealth" ensures pneumatic movement; the streaming camera on the outside of the door will replace the traditional rearview mirror when permitted by regulations, thus further reducing the wind resistance.
Lower is the Eletre infinity variable speed active air intake grille, which remains closed when the vehicle is stationary or needs to reduce drag during driving, and opens in a unique way when the motor, battery pack and braking system need to be cooled, sucking in air flowing to the radiator and allowing Eletre to start "breathing".
Stepless variable active intake grille with speed
Thanks to the deep application of aerodynamics, the Eletre' large SUV, which is more than 5 meters long and more than 2 meters high, has achieved the significant downforce that only sports cars and racing cars can have.
At this moment, history and technology are like air, lightly enveloping Eletre. From it, we see the charming brilliance of Lotus's 74 years of brand accumulation and technical precipitation, which will bloom in the future track.
03
Create "Track-Level Intelligent Driving"
As a "milestone", Eletre is not only a successor, but also a breakthrough.
Among the many ultra-luxury brands, supercar brands are often the slowest group of electrification and intelligent transformation. The reason is not technology and resources, but more in the "brand baggage". "When autonomous driving/high-level driving assistance capabilities land, how do supercar brands sustain themselves?" was repeatedly asked by the public.
Unlike other supercar brands that avoid intelligent driving assistance capabilities, Lotus has chosen to embrace technology. By combining intelligent driving assistance technology with lotus control technology accumulation, we have created a unique new era brand ICON that distinguishes traditional car companies and new car manufacturers from track-level intelligent driving.
The so-called "track-level intelligent driving", Lotus has given the ultimate answer - "with the assistance of Lotus intelligent driving technology, as long as you have a driver's license, you can win the F1 championship".
How?
Streaming exterior rearview mirror (ERMD) technology
First, each of Eletre's rearview mirrors features streaming exterior mirror (ERMD) technology, which is built into three different cameras for the mirror, 360-degree panoramic image assisted parking and the components that make up the intelligent driving system. Streaming exterior mirrors work in tandem with a production-grade flip-over lidar system for track-level intelligent driving.
The real "magic" is the software part.
Track-level intelligent driving proposed by Lotus is essentially a game algorithm, which introduces game theory into intelligent driving, so that the game and competition of the track enter daily life, which will bring more safety redundancy.
In daily life, such scenes that require gaming abound. The most typical scenario is to encounter the situation of congestion when driving, which will bring a safer and more comfortable driving experience if this phenomenon can be prevented in advance through the precision and game of intelligent driving.
Eletre
In addition, Lotus will also benchmark top drivers, test each other's reactions to various unexpected situations, actively redundancize through software and hardware performance, and take into account the two major indicators of performance and safety. With the gradual release of the function, Lotus is able to accurately plan the optimal driving route and make precise control during the driving process, just like experienced racing drivers.
So far, Lotus's track wisdom in the past 74 years has provided a safer and more convenient driving experience for every driver on the Eletre through intelligent driving assistance systems, and has also made the track a core foothold in Lotus's new era journey.
04
From Lotus Sports to Lotus Technology
Can Lotus, behind Eletre, become the new leader of the ultra-luxury sports car brand in the wave of electric intelligent transformation?
Founder Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman is also a world-renowned engineer and racing driver
For the past 74 years, Lotus has become more well known as the "Lotus Sports Car".
From 1958 onwards, Lotus competed in a total of 491 motorsport races. He has won 7 Formula One World Championship Manufacturers Championships, 6 Formula One Championship Drivers' Championships, 81 Formula One Championships, 9 Le Mans Grand Prix Group Championships, 1 Indy 500 Grand Prix and 1 World Rally Championship.
In the era of the internal combustion engine, the Lotus sports car, which is based on the brand concept of lightweight, aerodynamics and ultimate driving pleasure, has become the king of the track.
Entering the electric age, Lotus will take aerodynamics, track-level intelligent driving, and ultimate driving pleasure as a new brand vision, in which Lotus Technology has become the new "key mr."
In 2018, on the occasion of the brand's 70th anniversary, Lotus released the "Vision 80" ten-year brand revival plan, proposing a "Sino-British dual engine" strategy and a firm transformation to electrification and intelligence.
Lotus and London Bridge
Among them, "Ying" includes Lotus Automobile and Lotus Engineering, which is responsible for the research and development of Lotus brand high-performance sports car business and automotive engineering technology.
Eletre is defined and controlled by Lotus Automotive's Heissel R&D team in the UK, and is leading the development of various areas such as vehicle drivability, system integration, aerodynamic optimization and comprehensive driving experience.
Concept map of lotus technology headquarters building
As the core of "Medium", Wuhan Lotus Technology Co., Ltd. (Lotus Technology) was officially established in August 2021, and announced its future strategic plan for the first time - spending 26.3 billion yuan to fully embrace electrification. As a global intelligent technology company under the Lotus Group, Lotusco will integrate R&D and design institutions and global resources in China, Britain and Germany to be responsible for the research and development and production of high-end intelligent electric vehicles in the world, including Eletre.
Eletre's intelligent performance is inseparable from the Chinese team behind it.
Through Lotus Technology, the 74-year-old Lotus Group stands on the front line of the world's most vigorous intelligent electrification, can feel the most forward-looking market trends, and has the opportunity to apply the most cutting-edge intelligent electrification technology, just as it has led F1 technology on the track for more than 70 years.
In Lotus's planning, four new pure electric products will be launched by 2026. After Eletre, there will be an E-class pure electric intelligent four-door coupe codenamed TYPE 133, a new species of pure electric intelligence codenamed TYPE 134, and a pure electric trot codenamed TYPE 135.
In the two-wheel drive revolution of track historical advantage + cutting-edge intelligent technology, Lotus's new future has just begun.
——END——