Nobody has it harder than Lotus right now. While you can argue that choosing to go all-EV is a questionable decision, now that the choice has been made the brand has two huge problems: 1. Lotus built its brand on lightweight sports cars, when electric cars are heavy. And 2. Lotus cars are built in China, and Chinese EVs are getting a 100% tariff. So basically, the brand is selling expensive, heavy cars, leaving people to wonder what the brand even stands for anymore. Still, despite this rather un-overlook-able predicament, let’s overlook that and evaluate the new Lotus Eletre electric SUV on its own merits. I drove it around suburban LA, and I have to admit: I like it! Here’s why.
If you had asked me to help Lotus make as much money as possible, I’d have told the company to build an SUV like Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and pretty much anyone who values solvency has done. Specifically, in the case of Lotus, I’d have suggested a range-extended electric SUV — one with a small 35 kWh battery and a small gasoline range extender. Why? Because building a non-hybrid, fully electric SUV that gets any decent range whatsoever requires a huge battery, and a huge battery means lots of cost and weight.
[Full Disclosure: Beau and I drove a preproduction Lotus Eletre R. While I could evaluate this car any way I want, it’s worth noting that Beau and Galpin sell Lotus cars. -DT].
The Lotus Eletre has a gigantic 112-kWh unit, so the vehicle weighs over 5,500 pounds and starts at about $110,000. This is not the way. Hybrid should have been the way, even if only because people are loving hybrids in 2024.
But alas, as I said earlier, Lotus decided to go all-electric, so it will have to reap what it sows. Though what it has sown is, as far as electric SUVs go, quite good.
What Is The Lotus Eletre?
The Lotus Eletre is not only the very first Lotus SUV, it’s also the first all-electric Lotus. More than anything, though, it represents a fork in the road for the storied British brand as it tries to become all-electric while still maintaining a shred of dignity as a historical purveyor of lightweight sports cars.
How is Lotus trying to do that? Well, it’s built what it calls a “hyper-SUV” that may not really emphasize lightweight design, but tries making up for it in pretty much every other area: power, styling, quality, tech, and chassis design.
Power is prodigious. The standard Eletre makes 603 horsepower and 523 lb-ft of torque from its two electric motors — one on each axle. The Eletre that I drove, though, was the “R” model, which cranks out an insane 905 horsepower and 726 lb-ft of torque. That’s good, because the vehicle weighs over 5,800 pounds. Even the base Eletre only narrowly comes in under 5,500.
Adding Styling
It seems Lotus’ legendary “add lightness” philosophy has — at least for the Eletre — morphed into “add power.” And also “add styling.”
Yes, I said “add styling,” because that’s what the Evora has done. This is not an understated Lotus like you’re used to, this is an over-the-top, alien-looking machine covered in all sorts of vents and wings and inlets and scoops — it may be just another SUV from on paper, but it certainly stands out with its styling. Check it out:
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The headlights are actually the ones down below, hidden on the outboard edges of the dark, carbon fiber-covered “grille slot.” Inboard of the lights are the holes that exhaust out of the hood (see Autopian cofounder Beau and me shaking hands through this duct), and outboard but still in the slot are vents that exhaust in the wheel wells:
Here in this driving shot you can see the driver’s side vent outlet. You can also see another slit at the leading edge of the front door:
The most impressive aero features, in my view, are the amazing hexagonal Active Grille Shutters way down at the bottom of the front fascia. Look at how they are made up of six equilateral triangles that “lean back” to allow airflow into the cooling module when needed:
The rear of the car is equally as wild. Here’s another wheel-well-duct handshake photo:
There are also two oddly-shaped wings (a “split floating spoiler”) at the top of the rear hatch; plus an “air blade” in the D-pillar; and another rear spoiler, but active this time:
Lotus breaks down the new Eletre’s “porous” styling in its press release, writing:
The ‘carved by air’ design ethos as seen in the Evija hypercar and Emira sports car is much more than skin deep, and seamlessly integrates a raft of active aerodynamic technologies which together enhance efficiency, performance and dynamics, and contribute to a drag coefficient of just 0.26.
One of the most significant features is the active front grille. An integral part of the Emira and Evija-inspired front end design, this comprises a row of seven individual apertures, each one featuring six triangular petals. These petals smoothly open and close on demand to meet the Eletre’s requirements for cooling airflow to the powertrain’s e-motors and radiators, and to the brakes.
Crucially, in colder markets, they can stay closed to retain heat. Unique to the Eletre R, if the driver selects Track Mode, the grille is always fully open, helping to ensure the vehicle can deliver sustained, high-performance driving and braking.
The Electric Reverse Mirror Displays (ERMD)1, which use high-definition cameras to stream the view behind the vehicle to six-inch displays in the front doors, have a much smaller frontal area than traditional rear view mirrors. As well as enhanced vision, the ERMD technology can reduce the wind resistance coefficient by up to 1.5 per cent, further improving aero performance and useable range.
Delivering the same benefit is the deployable, state-of-the-art LIDAR sensor mounted at the top of the windscreen and front wheel arches. These remain hidden when not in use by the Eletre’s comprehensive suite of advanced driver assistance systems..
Another innovation is the Eletre’s active rear spoiler, packaged neatly into the tailgate. Working in combination with the distinctive split floating roof spoiler above, it automatically adjusts between three positions, depending on vehicle speed, acceleration, braking and Drive Mode setting.
When deployed at an angle of 18º, the spoiler can reduce the drag coefficient by up to 1.8%, while also increasing downforce by up to 60kg; moving to 32º increases the drag coefficient slightly, by 1.8%, but more than doubles downforce to 112.5kg. Fully deployed to 34º delivers maximum deceleration to assist maximum braking effort.
Wow; 0.26 drag coefficient; not bad!
Adding Driver-Assist Tech
So the Lotus Eletre makes absurd power and it looks out of this world. On top of those, it’s also filled with all sorts of tech. As mentioned in the quote above, the photo before shows a split floating spoiler that allows for space in the middle for a LIDAR sensor. You can also see deployable LIDAR sensors just above each front wheel arch, plus there’s a deployable one at the top of the windshield:
That’s four LIDAR sensors. But that’s just the start, as Lotus notes in its press release. There’s a fatigue warning, adaptive cruise control, a bunch of cameras and radar sensors and a thing called Life Detection and Care. Here’s how Lotus describes it:
To deliver [safety and relaxing journeys], a full complement of state-of-the-art sensors are used: 34 in total, including the four deployable LIDAR, six radar, seven 8MP HD cameras and 12 ultrasonic sensors. All together, they give the vehicle a true 360º view of the world around it.
To manage real-time processing of this wealth of data are two NVIDIA Orin-X chips, which provide a computing power capability of 500 TOPS – a phenomenal 500 trillion operations per second – and provide a fail-safe system architecture for enhanced functional safety. This level of technology, together with software and feature updates over-the-air, ensures that the Eletre not only provides the very latest ADAS functionality but is also able to deliver Level 4 autonomous driving capability as market regulations allow.
Eletre customers will be able to benefit from Highway Assist, which is designed to make long distance motorway driving more comfortable. Available from 30-150km/h, this builds on the Adaptive Cruise Control system’s management of speed and distance to vehicles in front by also automatically keeping the vehicle centred in its lane – even in bends.
Tiredness and driver distraction are among the main causes of road accidents, so Lotus has developed a Driver Monitoring System (DMS) which can help and support the driver if it determines that they’re not focused on the road ahead. Inside the cabin, near-infrared light is sent out which is reflected by the driver’s eyes and picked up by a camera: this determines, through filtering and complex calculations, where the driver is looking. Combined with other inputs such as the rate and duration of every blink, how the mouth is closed or open, and the way in which the vehicle is being driven, DMS can determine if there is a risk of them falling asleep or not paying attention to the road ahead. If these scenarios occur, visual and audible warnings are triggered, encouraging the driver to stop and take a break.
Another innovation is Life Detection and Care – a system designed to protect children or pets inadvertently left inside a locked vehicle. Should this occur, CPD will initiate three levels of warning: within 10 seconds of the vehicle being locked, the Eletre’s horn will sound and the lights will flash, and a notification will be sent to the driver. If the driver doesn’t act, the signals from the horn and lights will continue for five minutes. If no action is taken after five minutes and the temperature inside the cabin exceeds 35ºC, an emergency call will be made to the authorities to alert them to the potential risk, the windows will be lowered and a new notification will be sent to the driver.
Power, styling, safety tech — but there’s more. Way more. Specifically inside the car.
Adding Interior Tech
Here’s how Lotus describes all the tech in the cabin, which I’ll talk about more in a second:
The central touchscreen is a slimline, deployable, 15.1-inch HD OLED design that’s only 10mm thick. Able to display beautifully crisp, clear images using over 16 million colours, it offers exceptional clarity and a truly immersive experience for the driver. Navigation functionality, developed with HERE Technologies (for European markets), includes EV Routing, EV Range Assistant and Predictive Routing. Beneath the touchscreen in the centre console is a wireless device charger to complement wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto2.
The front seat passenger has a high-definition touchscreen of their own, enabling them to control media playback and see information corresponding to voice control commands or receive prompts such as fasten seatbelt. In the rear, passengers can control climate control settings, seat adjustments, ambient lighting and media playback through a further HD touchscreen – an eight-inch or nine-inch deployable display for five-seat or four-seat configurations respectively.
The 12.6-inch HD OLED instrument cluster behind the steering wheel is paired with a 29-inch head-up display (HUD) to help the driver keep their eyes on the road. By projecting graphics which help to convey key information such as navigation or advanced driver assistance system alerts over corresponding objects up ahead, the HUD can make it quicker and easier for the driver to understand what’s happening around them, reducing distraction and enhancing safety.
Ensuring that every occupant can enjoy an unrivalled music experience, the Eletre offers two audio systems developed with KEF. KEF Premium is a 1,380-watt, 15-speaker, surround sound system, while KEF Reference is a 2,160-watt 23-speaker system featuring 3D surround sound and space-saving Uni-Core™ technology, and the Eletre is the first vehicle to offer it. To enhance depth, precision and clarity, both systems are combined with Dolby Atmos, and the pairing of this technology together with KEF Audio is another first.
Adding Fancy Chassis Tech
What about the chassis? After all, handling is what Lotus has been all about since day one.
Like I said before, the thing weighs almost 6,000 pounds, but Lotus has some of the sharpest chassis engineers in the business, so it’s got some handling-related tricks up its sleeve, like air suspension, rear steering, anti-roll control, adaptive damping, torque vectoring, and more. Here, let Lotus talk to you about it:
The Eletre features sophisticated multi-link suspension systems front and rear, with components made from lightweight aluminium. The design of each enables effective decoupling of lateral and longitudinal loads, delivering superb ride quality together with outstanding responsiveness without one attribute compromising the other.
The innovative dual-chamber air springs, fitted as standard across the Eletre range, enable independent control of ride height and stiffness. In addition to comfort and refinement, the active air suspension also provides speed-dependent lowering of the car by up to 25mm to reduce drag and therefore improve range. It can also increase ride height by between 15mm and 25mm to enhance off-highway capability.
The electronically-controlled damping system – CDC – continuously measures the loads coming into the suspension at a rate of 1,000 times per second, and adapts the damping rate 500 times per second, for improved body control without any harshness. It means the Eletre ‘breathes’ with the road, as every Lotus should.
The Eletre is the first Lotus to use electromechanical power steering. The system has been meticulously tuned to deliver the pure, truly connected feel, feedback and intuitive response to the driver’s inputs that’s a hallmark of every Lotus and for which Eletre also sets the class benchmark. And, at only 2.5 turns lock-to-lock, the steering is sports-car quick as well. With the rack-mounted motor only consuming power on-demand, the system offers greater energy efficiency than those relying on hydraulics to provide the assistance.
The active rear-wheel-steering system makes the Eletre even more agile and is another Lotus first. The technology is offered, together with Intelligent Active Roll Control (IARC), as part of the Lotus Dynamic Handling Pack that’s fitted as standard to the Eletre R and optional on Eletre and Eletre S. Actuators mounted on the rear subframe connected to the toe control arm can rotate the rear suspension knuckle by up to 3.5º. At low speeds, the rear wheels turn in the opposite direction to the fronts, effectively reducing the wheelbase and therefore reducing the turning circle by up to 0.8 metres to enhance manoeuvrability. At high speeds, the rear wheels turn in the same direction as the fronts, improving stability.
IARC is a third-generation 48-volt system featuring powerful and fast-acting electromechanical actuators. Taking their input from the body displacement sensors, their required output torque is calculated in only two milliseconds, delivering precision control of the required roll stiffness, resulting in even more neutral cornering and improved composure. When driving on smooth, flat roads, IARC effectively decouples the anti-roll bars, benefiting ride comfort.
Managing the interaction of all of these systems is Lotus’ incredible new 6D Integrated Chassis Control (ICC) system. ICC seamlessly integrates the response of each component – together with the all-wheel drive system’s torque distribution and the active aerodynamics – to perfectly balance control and comfort in every driving scenario by continuously analysing the vehicle’s behaviour across multiple dimensions: vertical, lateral and longitudinal motion, plus pitch, roll and yaw. This technology, developed in-house by Lotus, significantly expands the Eletre’s dynamic capability and delivers an even more rewarding, engaging driving experience for the customer.
Pirelli P Zeros and six-piston front calipers help get the car to a stop, and there’s a two-speed transmission with a 13.65:1 first gear ratio and 7.16:1 second. On top of that, the battery pack is an 800 volt, 112 kWh unit that promises 10 to 80 percent charging in 20 minutes and 75 miles of added range in just five minutes thanks to 350 kW charging capability. Range is 304 and 373 miles, per the European WLTP cycle.
The hardware is impressive.
What’s It Like To Drive?
As soon as I approached the Lotus Eletre with its wacky triangular key in my pocket, the door handles popped out. I yanked the driver’s door handle, hopped in, closed the door, and buckled my belt. Then I looked up and my mind was blown. This interior is absolutely gorgeous:
It’s not just about the beautifully crafted steering wheel (with its delicately ornate switches and knurled stalks), it’s not just the insanely clear displays, it’s not just the vent that stretches horizontally across the dash, it’s not just the unique dual “humps” that make up that dash, it’s not just the thin and elegant screens ahead of the driver and passenger, it’s not just the comfortable seats or the Alcantara on the cushioned surfaces, and it’s not just how the 15.1-inch screen tips when you turn the car on to welcome you (see below).
No, it’s the quality of it all. It’s one thing for a car to look nice inside, but it’s another thing to sit in that pretty interior and ogle at the way everything fits, at the way the stitching looks, at the way the Class-A surfaces feel.
I’d just driven a Tesla Cybertruck, and to go from that into a Lotus Eletre is like alighting from a canoe and stepping aboard a superyacht. The Lotus looks, feels, smells, sounds, and probably even tastes way, way nicer.
The shifter is a little chrome toggle lever that goes up for Reverse and down for Drive, with Park a separate button on the left. It works well enough and doesn’t take up a bunch of space, though I’d prefer it on the dash or column and not there on the center tunnel; give me more storage!
As for how the car drives once you’ve moved that shifter into “D,” this screenshot should tell you everything you need to know:
Nine Hundred And Five horsepower. 905. That is absolutely insane. Zero to 62 mph goes by in 2.95 seconds. When you watch the video at the top of this article, pay attention when the camera car is behind the Lotus and the Lotus stabs the gas. The camera car, a Honda Civic, is actively trying to keep up, but by the time it does, it has no doors, for they have been blown off.
I can’t say I ever noticed any shifting between the two gears, but what I did notice is insane acceleration, a decent (if somewhat firm on this R model) ride, just moderate wind and road noise, and an interior up there with the best of them. It’s a good car to drive daily, and if you ever need to merge onto a freeway it will do so better than pretty much any SUV ever.
We didn’t get a chance to throw it around too many corners, since we were on public streets, but a bit of highway weaving at high speeds tells me this thing has some serious potential, and if I’m honest, I did walk away from the Eletre thinking: This is a performance SUV.
And that’s the point.
It’s A Great Effort, But Is It The Right Effort For Lotus?
The Lotus Eletre isn’t a “real Lotus” in the traditional sense, but you know what? No Lotus SUV would have been. SUVs are taller off the ground, bigger, and heavier, and though this Eletre is particularly heavy due to it being an EV, the electric setup also offers plenty of benefits that, you could argue, are worth the added weight to a performance SUV customer.
The vehicle is quiet; it delivers absolutely ungodly power to all four tires, shooting the vehicle from a stop sign to highway speeds in a trouser-soilingly absurd manner; it has tons of room inside thanks to the EV platform; and the low-down weight minimizes the “feel” of all that mass.
But the Eletre has three big things going against it. 1. It’s battling the “lightweight” brand image (we’ve talked about that already, so let’s move on). 2. Even though it’s insanely quick and spacious, the way it delivers its torque/accelerates isn’t really that different from other EVs (Mustang Mach-E GT, Kia EV6 GT, etc.). And 3. This thing is expensive, starting at $110,000, and people have shown they want hybrids right now.
So yes, the Eletre stands out from the crowd with its styling and interior quality, and even with much of its tech, but the way the car responds to inputs doesn’t seem that much different than other high-horsepower EV competitors. Maybe a bit of high-speed cornering would change that, though I’m not sure by how much given the car’s heft. Between that and the EV segment’s slower growth, I do wonder how much better this thing would sell were it a hybrid (which would bring the added benefit of lighter weight).
Still, as an EV SUV, the Lotus Eletre is legit: It looks cool, it feels like it’s top quality both inside and out, it’s quick, it’s comfortable, it’s smothered in advanced safety features and interior tech, and the truth is, there still is something cool about driving a Lotus.
I’m sure the performance is amazing, but I’m worried that the important metric (like another amazing performance vehicle, the F-22) will be the hours of maintenance per hours of operation ratio.
Thing looks like a new Prius with an extra piece of toast stuck in the middle of it. Like a sports car with a queen sized mattress between the chassis and the body work. A 900 horsepower orthodontics appointment.
“and probably even tastes way, way nicer.”
“You go out at night eatin’ cars
You eat Cadillacs, Lincolns too
Mercurys and Subaru
And you don’t stop, you keep on eatin’ cars”
-Blondie
Also: Lotus Elise (Not her real name) oh, I get it now, her real name is Eletre…ha ha
Why?
I just can’t unsee the need to put two hands at the edge of those rear wheel ducts, Goatse-style. It looks like it’s being actively pulled apart to reveal the rectum that is this car. The jumbled-up looks of this thing almost make the Aztek look like a coherent design in comparison.
Maybe it’s good, as you say. Maybe it’ll Cayenne things up for the marque and help fund some solid Lotus sports cars. I can’t help but think that Colin Chapman is rolling in his grave with this one, though. Nothing about this screams Lotus. The styling is hideous, the emphasis seems to be more on straight-line speed than handling, it’s heavy as hell and I do not see any connection to Lotus at all beyond perhaps the simplicity of an EV drivetrain, or the brazen half-assery of throwing a spare monitor on a mount in the middle of the dashboard and calling it a day. (I love older Lotii, but interior design is not their passion.)
It’s one thing to have technical tricks to help with the handling of a big ol’ chonker, but Lotus’ main feature has been not needing those tricks because the car doesn’t weigh as much as a house. The Taycan compensates for its heft pretty well in the bendies, for example, but you still feel the heft of it (and sometimes the plow of it) because you still have to contend with the sheer inertia of more mass moving at speed.
I won’t move on from the Chapman fetishism because I really love the Lotii of the past. Anyway, Lotus offered something unique among sports car manufacturers in its emphasis on nimble handling and light weight, but this? I don’t see why anyone would opt for this (especially branded as a Lotus, given Lotus’ reputation for adding additional lightness via trim falling off and niche-brand status) over anything else in the market unless they really just want something unique. Most people aren’t very familiar with Lotus or don’t associate it with this kind of car, and you’re not going to get many existing Lotus fans who are going to go for something like this. They might as well have introduced it under a different or even new-to-America brand that made more sense for such a vehicle, IMHO. Fund those more fitting Lotus sports cars (or even a lighter-weight SUV! I don’t mind that!) through its overall corporate structure, and leave Lotus’ nameplate for more nimble lightweight fare.
Crazy to me that at no point in the “Life Detection and Care” process will the car just…turn on climate control??
“ When you watch the video at the top of this article”
You mean the one I have to close immediately every time I open an article because a moving picture that I don’t want to watch takes up the top of my screen every time I go to a new page, or switch pages on comments, or go back to a page on which I’ve already closed the video?
The one you think is driving traffic to your membership page because I have fat fingers and accidentally click the video and open up another tab 1/3 of the time?
The one where I desperately wish there was an option to turn it off permanently because there’s so much good content and such a great community yet I end up getting frustrated about enough that I’m typing a four paragraph comment about even though I don’t expect it to have any impact???
Side note: I think I actually like this SUV. It seems silly in the fun ways. If I were in the $100k+ sport SUV market, I would consider this because it seems like it has a bit of personality bs all these angry super suvs
Funny, after ranting I looked at the content for the first time. Apparently it’s an ad I can get rid of. I’ll have to think about that. I thought about joining because I like the content, and now I’m thinking of joining because the site keeps poking me in the side of the head saying join join join join.
Not sure how I feel about that for motivation, even if I understand it.
Genuinely curious how many people sign up because they love the content and want extra features vs join because otherwise the site is annoying. Or a mix of both.
I was in on supporting a great website, fwiw.
“Eletra, point on the Hot Wheel car where Defendant, David Tracy, tongued you.”
Also, when do the prices on these as used drop to about $40K?
Pretty sure Steph explained where DT put his tongue.
“Simplify and add lightness.” Well, it doesn’t get much simpler than an electric motor: one moving part. Suck it, combustion.
And score a big fat goose egg on everything else, including the ultra-gape fish maw at the front. No way in hell I’m owning three tons’ worth of Lotus and having only one Lotus to show for it, especially one that slots so solidly into the FUGLY category. No sale, forever.
Other than the insane horsepower, I’d say that the yellow paint is mostly responsible for the price premium compared with other EVs. I don’t think a pure EV is the wrong move for a Lotus (as compared with a hybrid). I’m sold on EVs. Why add combustion when you can have a fast car with a 300 mile range? Maybe they could have traded hp for weight and added some lightness? They’re Lotus. It’s what they used to do. But I don’t see anything special here.
Hybrids with combustion: cheaper, more affordable, better range, some dont’ need a charger, still ridiculously efficient, less pollution than a normal gas car… shall I go on? Hybdirs may not be a 100% permanent solution, but they are an excellent stop-gap measure until EV’s are truly better than combustion vehicles. EVs will be the best eventually, but not right now, I wouldn’t jump on the EV train quite yet.
EVs are simpler than hybrids. Add simplicity I say!…Given EVs aren’t for everyone. But if you are going to build a cutting edge car, I see no reason it shouldn’t be an EV. Redundant power systems don’t contribute to simplicity or lightness, though they are effective – see F1. A hybrid Lotus loses the plot. So does a heavy EV Lotus sadly.
2 Years ago and I thought a heavy lotus was impossible…
I am late to this party, but I agree with a lot of the comments. Remove the badge and this could be anything. Lotus hasn’t had the plot since that C-01 motorbike abomination. This SUV continues their walk away from the light.
Disregard my previous statement. This is indeed a Lotus.
Still not a great lotus, but better than I thought it was.
LINO
The secret handshake was Beau and David agreeing to smile while removing ZJ kitten spawn from the Lotus vents after David parked it in the Galpin back lot next to his Jeep-of-many-cats project.