Sports car brand Lotus has been known for its lightweight, performance-focused two-door vehicles. Now ownedĀ by Volvo Cars and Polestar’s parent company, Geely Holdings, Lotus launched its first electric car in late 2022, the all-electric SUV, Eletre.
Lotus has launched its second all-electric car. This time, it’s a performance four-door sedan which it calls the Emeya.
It will be launching in China first with four variants. Powertrains include a dual-motor base version producing 450 kW of power and 710 Nm of torque.Ā
This can be bumped up to 675 kW and 985 Nm of torque in the top two trims which means that the sleek sedan can reach speeds of up to 256 km/h.
The base setup can help get the Emeya from 0-100 km/h in 4.15 seconds while the more powerful variants can do the same sprint in 2.78 seconds.
All variants are fed by the same 102 kWh battery pack with range figures on the optimistic side for the low-powered variants sitting at 650 km on the CLTC cycle. The more powerful variants can get up to 480 km of range on the same range test cycle.
For reference, the Tesla Model S dual-motor performance sedan is equipped with a 100 kWh battery pack which can deliver up to 651 km on the stricter EPA cycle.Ā
On the charging front, the Emeya will be using 800 V charging architecture which enables the carās massive battery to be fast-charged up to 80% in just 18 minutes. Exact peak charging speeds are unknown at this stage but if it’s like the SUV Eletre is likely to be offered with 350 kW fast charging.
Pricing of the new Emeya in China will start at RMB 668,000 which is equivalent to under $A144,000. The top-spec model will bump that up to $A251,400.
Lotus rolled out the Emeya in China on January 18, offering four trims with starting prices of RMB 668,000 ($92,830), RMB 768,000, RMB 968,000, and RMB 1.18 million, respectively.
The Emeya comes in at 5,139 mm in length which is longer than both the Tesla Model S and Porsche Taycan.
It is also equipped with four LiDARs in its top trim for autonomous driving and advanced safety systems.
Interested Australian customers can reserve a spot now and place an order closer to its launch later in 2024.
Order books are now open in China with first deliveries expected to begin in the next two months.
RizĀ is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.