Text: Original by Understand Car Emperor Fu Bo [Original Product by Understand Car Emperor] Lotus is a niche but well-known brand among car fans. It once dominated the F1 arena. Extreme lightweight and excellent control are its concepts in building cars. Classic sports cars such

text: Understanding Car Emperor Original Fubo

[Understanding Car Emperor Original Product] Lotus is a niche but well-known brand among car fans. It once dominated the F1 arena. Extreme lightweight and excellent control are its concepts of building cars. Classic sports cars such as Elise and Exige under the Lotus brand are still synonymous with pure driving pleasure. But that is all in the past. What should Lotus products in the electric era look like? Can they still have excellent control attributes? The Lotus Eletre we tested today has already given the answer.

Lotus Eletre has been launched in China not long ago. It is available in two models: sports version (S+) and track version (R+) in mainland China, priced at RMB 828,000 and RMB 1.028 million respectively. The track version has more powerful power performance and also uses more carbon fiber material.

Rapid acceleration and excellent braking effect

Eletre track version model has a maximum power of 918 horsepower

In terms of power, both the Eletre sports version (S+) and the track version (R+) are equipped with front and rear permanent magnet synchronous dual motors and a full 800-volt high-voltage architecture. Among them, the sports version can output a maximum power of 612 horsepower and can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 4.5 seconds; the track version has a maximum power of 918 horsepower and is equipped with an electric drive 2-speed gearbox, which can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in just 2.95 seconds.

All series come standard with an adaptive air suspension system

In terms of chassis, Lotus Eletre comes standard with adaptive air suspension, which works with CDC continuously damping adjustable shock absorbers to quickly adjust the height, softness and hardness of the suspension. At the same time, Eletre also comes standard with an intelligent anti-roll control system that adjusts the stiffness of the stabilizer bar by calculating the vehicle's support force requirements in real time. The vehicle reduces roll when cornering at high speeds, improving handling; it provides softer stiffness when passing through uneven road sections, thereby improving comfort. At the same time, Eletre is also equipped with a rear-wheel steering system as standard, with a maximum steering angle of 3.5 degrees for the rear wheels.

This test drive was conducted at the Shanghai International Circuit. This wide track with many straight lines gave Lotus Eletre ample room to perform. Press the accelerator pedal to the bottom, and a sense of dizziness will follow. On the straight line after turning 13, Eletre easily breaks through 210 km/h. For safety reasons, the lead car actively slows down. Even so, you can feel that its power reserve is still sufficient. If you push it with all your strength, it is not difficult for Eletre to break through 250 km/h on this track.

The braking force is released linearly and uniformly

For such a high-performance electric vehicle, there is no need to worry about the acceleration ability. Corresponding to the acceleration ability is braking. To run fast, you need to be able to brake. Eletre uses a 6-piston braking system matched with Dual-cast composite brake disc . In the 6-piston braking system, the front and rear brake calipers are made of cast aluminum, which is lighter than the traditional cast iron material; the Dual-cast composite brake disc not only achieves lightweight design, but also ensures performance during continuous high-intensity braking.

Judging from the actual driving experience, Eletre's braking force release is very linear. When tracking braking into corners, the braking system can give the driver clear feedback, making it easier for the driver to control the braking force. When braking at full speed, the power released by the braking system can also give the driver sufficient confidence to increase the tail speed on straight sections.

Eletre's steering feedback is moderate and its direction is precise. When cornering at high speed, the suspension system can provide sufficient support to the body. Although its "volume" is not small, its control is still very flexible. The vehicle we tested was equipped with Pirelli P Zero Corsa track-grade tires, with front wheel specifications of 275/45 R22 and rear wheel specifications of 315/35 R22. This high-performance tire also provided sufficient assistance for Eletre's excellent performance on the track.

The Lotus brand has a glorious history. Although it was small in scale and had a relatively simple product line in the past, the car-making concept of "integration of people and vehicles" has been throughout the brand's development history.In the electric era, Lotus Eletre still carries forward the spirit of control first, combining the powerful power performance of electric motor with the excellent control skills among SUVs of the same level. In the past, you could experience the pure sports car control feeling on the Elise and Evora models, but the Eletre's control feeling is different. The power form and body structure have changed, and the control genes that Lotus is proud of have also had a new expression in the world of electric cars and SUVs.

The appearance adopts aperture design technique, equipped with multiple sets of ventilation channels

Equipped with an actively adjustable air intake grille

Reviewing the appearance, Lotus Eletre continues the Lotus Evija's aperture design technique in terms of styling, focusing on aerodynamic performance. All Eletre series are equipped with the LAA active air intake grille as standard, which adopts a multi-blade linkage design. When the grille is closed, it can increase the driving range by an additional 15 kilometers. In addition, the opening and closing structure of the grille adopts a hinge-guided design, which can support the opening and closing action at vehicle speeds below 190 km/h, and further optimizes downforce and wind resistance.

Pictures of the Lotus Eletre track version

The drag coefficient of the Eletre is as low as 0.26, and the maximum net downforce is 90 kilograms. The entire vehicle is equipped with 7 sets of Race-Aero air ducts: the hood air duct and the hidden air duct reduce the air resistance encountered in the front of the car body; 2 sets of through-type air duct combinations on the upper and lower air curtains on the front face, combined with the side fender air ducts, can sort out the airflow during speed; the D-pillar air duct design helps reduce resistance.

The visual center of gravity of the vehicle body is lower.

It is equipped with 6-piston brake calipers

Looking from the side, Eletre adopts a short front overhang and short rear overhang design. The wheelbase to vehicle length ratio reaches 0.59. At the same time, the visual center of gravity of the vehicle is lower, which effectively enhances the sporty feel of the vehicle. In terms of size, the length, width and height of Eletre are 5103/2019/1636 mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 3019 mm.

The rear spoiler supports multi-speed adjustable

The rear part of the car, Eletre is equipped with a split wind-breaking rear wing and LAA active rear wing. The split wind-breaking rear wing is based on the visual lightweight design concept and adopts a "double-wing" shape consistent with the interior design. In terms of function, it can reduce the vacuum suction caused by turbulence at the rear of the car body, thereby forming backward suction and upward lift. It is optimized from an aerodynamic angle and can increase downforce by up to 8 kilograms. At the same time, the split design can achieve lower wind resistance.

LAA active rear wing can support four-speed adjustment to achieve switching between the best downforce and the best drag coefficient. The opening angle of the lowest wind resistance gear is 23 degrees; the opening angle of the optimal downforce gear is 32 degrees, with a maximum downforce of 112.5 kg; the opening angle of the optimal braking gear is 34 degrees.

is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip, and has rich in-vehicle interconnection functions.

Entering the car, Eletre has changed the "simple" interior design style of the Lotus brand in the past. The car is equipped with multiple large screens, including a full LCD instrument, a 15.1-inch central control screen, a 29-inch AR HUD projection and a 9-inch foldable large screen in the rear. The

car-machine system is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip and comes standard with the Lotus Hyper OS operating system based on the UNREAL 3D engine. It supports multi-dimensional interaction between the car and the machine. The five screens in the car can be linked in real time. It is also equipped with 3D navigation and rich audio-visual entertainment functions.

Intelligent driving assistance configuration, Eletre is equipped with 4 lidar , 2 4D imaging millimeter wave radar, 4 corner millimeter wave radar , 7 8-megapixel cameras, 4 2-megapixel surround-view cameras and 12 ultrasonic radars. At the same time, the car is also equipped with an attention detection camera. Dual Orin-X chips provide computing power of up to 508TOPS, and in the future will gradually cover autonomous driving assistance functions in all scenarios such as highways, parking and urban roads.

All series are equipped with KEF audio system

For Lotus, Eletre is a big step in the development of its brand. Lotus's ultimate pursuit of driving control will continue in different models. The ultra-high power level and intelligent configuration in the electrification era give Lotus's SUV products the ability to pursue the ultimate.

written at the end

The Lotus brand will also launch a number of electric products in the future

In October 2018, on the occasion of the brand's 70th anniversary, Lotus released the "Vision 80" ten-year brand revival plan and proposed the "Chinese and British dual engines" strategy to firmly transform towards electrification and intelligence. According to the plan, in the next five years, Lotus Group’s global pure electric product matrix: launch the first pure electric supercar Evija in 2021; launch a pure electric smart SUV (Eletre) code-named Type 132 in 2022; launch an E-class pure electric smart four-door coupe code-named Type 133 in 2023; launch a code-named Type 13 in 2025 A new pure electric smart species of 134; a pure electric small sports car code-named Type 135 will be launched in 2026.

Eletre is the first work of the Lotus brand after it started its electrification transformation. It inherits the Lotus brand's pursuit of driving control, and its electrified architecture also allows it to perform better at the configuration level. Even though many friends will still miss Lotus in the internal combustion engine era, a new era has arrived. Fortunately, the electric Lotus is still "human and vehicle-in-one". What do you think of the Lotus Eletre? Welcome to leave a message and communicate.