Lotus has taken the wraps off the Eletre—billed as the world’s first “electric hyper-SUV”. What we are seeing here is actually a production-ready model, with production scheduled to commence in China later this year. Pricing is not out yet, but reservations/pre-orders are open in Europe for €2,500. Pre-orders are probably open in China as well, because customer deliveries will start with the Chinese market in 2023.
Alright then, let’s talk a li’l bit about its styling. The Eletre gives off strong Urus vibes from the front-three-quarter angles, but the rest of the vehicle looks fairly unique. The ‘carved by air’ design ethos adopted by the Evija and Emira is also pretty obvious here. As with any modern luxury automobile out there, the car’s exterior lights perform a welcome animation sequence upon pressing the button on the key or smartphone app. While the examples here showcase mirror cameras, in markets where the local regulations do not allow such things, traditional mirrors are fitted. 23-inch wheels and ceramic composite brakes are optional in all markets, while the panoramic glass sunroof is optional in markets outside China.
As for the dimensions, the Eletre is a pretty big vehicle, measuring 5,103 mm long, 2,135 mm wide (including mirror cameras), 1,630 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 3,019 mm. Those numbers suggest that the Eletre is larger than the Tesla Model X.
As for the construction, the architecture is a mix of aluminium and high tensile steel, while the body panels are made of aluminium and all the black components are of carbon fibre. In case you’re wondering, the Eletre is built around Geely’s Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform that also underpins the Zeekr 001.
Inside, things look very futuristic, as you can expect, with a 15.1-inch landscape-style OLED touchscreen dominating the dashboard. The touchscreen is flanked by slim displays—one for the driver and one for the front passenger. An AR head-up display comes standard as well. But I think we should appreciate that there are also some physical controls, which makes it a much better UX.
Materials used include man-made microfibres on the primary touchpoints and an advanced wool-blend fabric on the seats. Other key features include a 15-speaker KEF Premium audio system or optional 23-speaker KEF Reference audio system, 5G compatibility, the usual ADAS stuff, air suspension, and Continuous Damping Control. Active ride height, rear-axle steering, active anti-roll bar and torque vectoring via braking are all optionally available. The Eletre also boasts deployable LIDAR sensors, claimed to be the world’s first in a production car.
Moving on to the juicy bits of the story then, the Eletre packs two electric motors, one at each axle. A three-in-one electric drive system integrates each motor with a controller and reducer. The power output is gonna be 447 kW (608 metric hp/600 bhp), but the torque is a secret at the moment. The 100 kWh battery pack is targeted to deliver a range of around 600 km (373 mi) on a single charge. And thanks to 800-volt architecture, the battery pack can be DC fast-charged with up to 350 kW; a 20 min charging is said to deliver 400 km (248.5 mi) of range.
As for the official performance figures, 0-100 km/h (62 mph) in less than 3 seconds and a top speed of 260 km/h (161.5 mph). Lotus is yet to disclose the weight of the Eletre, but it’s not that hard to guess.
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