Mildly controversial in the intellectual bin fire of social media, this. Mainly because ‘this’ is the new Lotus Eletre, and it is essentially everything the internet thinks a Lotus should not be; an electric SUV with fat skeins of technology woven through it.
It’s also produced in Wuhan, China, which seems to provoke a strange kind of wrinkle in some people’s foreheads that suggests this final piece of information confirms that a five-seat sporting SUV is indeed the antichrist and will bring about the fall of civilisation by not weighing under a tonne and having a 1.8-litre Rover K-series engine.
Still, if you can wade through the thick layer of Colin Chapman memes and borrowed outrage, there seems to be a lot of interest in Lotus picking up and trying something new. Presumably something that will appeal to more people than an ICE two-seater with the luggage capacity of a teaspoon.
So what we get is a five-seat SUV with a 112kWh battery, a max of 373 miles of WLTP range (depending on spec), super fast 800-volt charging and some bits of Lotus-ology applied to make it interesting to drive. Loads of tech in there, too.
It’s not pitched as a game-changer, simply the Lotus of SUVs. Which takes more than just a badge and vague gesturing towards dynamic prowess, to be fair.
Hmm. So is it at least fast?
Yes, and reliably so. In the UK we’ll get three levels Eletre, Eletre S and Eletre R. Eletre and Eletre S are mechanically identical bi-motored single-speed SUVs, both with just over 600bp. They’ll hit 62mph in 4.5 seconds and run to 160mph. The Eletre R gets an uprated (and heavier) rear motor with a two-speed ‘box strapped to it to provide 900bhp+ and 0-62mph in sub three-seconds. Also, just wanted to point out that if you say the word ‘Eletre’ enough times, it starts to sound really weird. Eletre. Eletre. ELETRE.
Stop that. Lotussusess are supposed to be light though, right? So is it?
Hmm. No. But it isn’t particularly fat either, in the context of an electric car of this size. A 112kWh battery weighs in the region of 650kg, so with the basic Eletre weighing in at under 2,500kg (2,490kg, to be exact), that’s not bad at all. The S and R weigh 2,520 and 2,640kg respectively, for reference. Add a few kilos for options, but that’s where they start.
For context, a Tesla Model X with a 95kWh battery weighs 2,540kg+. So there’s a good bit of thoughtfulness thrown into this platform, which is ‘all new’ according to Lotus, but we suspect is built from elements shared from Geely’s global new platform strategy. Put together in interesting and bespoke ways, sure, and with much aluminium. More in-depth measuring is needed.
Is it any good?
Well, it’s certainly a conversation-starter. There’s lots of aero, and a drag coefficient of 0.26 is pretty good, with the kind of styling that seems to get more detailed the more you digest it. Including more holes and gaps than you expect.
There’s also an interior that seems to be filled with terrible chintz in pictures (helloooo rose-gold switch option), which turns out to be properly lovely in real life and a swathe of new technology ripe for exploitation from over-the-air (OTA) updates. There’s enough LiDar, cameras and microwave sensors to give Boston Dynamics a migraine, plus much ADAS, connectivity and swish electronica. Shoutout to the lovely KEF Audio stereo system (standard on S and R) with Dolby surround-sound that’s worth staying in the car for.
And if we’re talking dynamics, they will surprise you – mainly thanks to the steering, which is neat, quick, accurate and talkative as far as these things go. There’s a real easy lope to the way you can cover ground in an Eletre S on a backroad, air-suspension set to ‘Tour’ mode, AWD sticking the grip levels and everything feeling better than it has any right to. Not a hard car to like on an objective level.
Photography: Johnny Fleetwood
What's the verdict?
“Yes, it’s built in China and not Norfolk. Yes it’s electric. Yes, it’s a high-riding SUV. But it’s also a really very convincing one”
It’s hard not to carry some weight of prejudice into any conversation about Lotus – especially as a British brand so hardwired into the sportscar identity. But the truth is, a company cannot live by niche alone, and Lotus needed to broaden its appeal or it would die. Even if you bear antipathy towards the platform or format, you can at least have empathy for the need for it. Cue the agglomeration into the Chinese Geely Megacorporation (which also owns Volvo, Polestar, Zeekr, Lynk&Co and the London EV Company as well as others). Next step? Do a ‘Porsche Cayenne’ and make a vehicle that’s unpopular with the diehard fans but globally saleable – and these days that means an electric SUV.
The trick here is to roll with the fact that the Eletre has nothing to do with ‘traditional Lotus’, but that doesn’t mean it can’t align itself with Lotus values, and be an interesting aspect of a growing brand. Yes, it’s built in China and not Norfolk. Yes it’s electric. Yes, it’s a high-riding SUV. But it’s also a really very convincing one, and despite all the various arguments arranged against it, it still, just a little bit, has some Lotusness in there. More than enough to take on anything in the sector – including electric luminaries like Tesla.
A Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo would still steal the TG collective heart here, but if you absolutely have to have something with more hip-height, then it works. Maybe it’s just in the steering, or the slightly soft-edged tautness when rowing down a bumpy B-road, but there’s a lot to like here. It’s not perfect, but it’s a damn good start.
Tesla Model X
£87,190 – £168,730
Land Rover Range Rover Sport
£63,285 – £112,685
Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo
Continue reading: Driving
Driving
What is it like to drive?
There’s a lot going on here, but the best thing about the Eletre is that largely, it feels like there isn’t. So let’s start with the basics of the chemical motivation. The big 112kWh (107 useable) battery has the cells arranged directly in the structural case rather than in separate modules, meaning that the pack itself can be more energy dense for the volume. Basically it’s a physically smaller battery with the same wallop.
It’s cooled and heated, can charge at up to a peak of 350kW thanks to an 800-volt system (rather than the more usual 400-volt) and offers an entirely reasonable 373 miles of WLTP range for the base Eletre and S. A bit less for the heavier and faster R, which also gets a two-speed ‘box on the rear axle to produce some startling sub-three-second 0-62mph times. Which are reliably electric-fast, though largely unremarkable in that once-is-enough way that electric sticks a launch.
The motors and inverters and coding black magic are inside one unit, the packaging neat. Suspension is twin-chambered air, aluminium multi-link with various driving modes (Tour, Range, Sport, Off-road, Individual – and the R gets an extra Track mode) and there’s decent spread in the dynamics. Though the S we drove on-road and for a good long while felt largely front-biased most of the time, and there’s a distinct possibility that it would be more fun to have things a little more RWD spicy in Sport.
Brakes are good, strong and consistent thank goodness, though there can be an annoying grabbiness on the first 10 per cent of the pedal travel that feels like it’s got something to do with the brake regen blending. And the R was sampled in the streaming, biblical wet on an airstrip, so it really didn’t feel as fast as 900bhp+ ought to.
So that’s the hardware…
Getting there! There’s also active anti-roll control, torque vectoring by braking, and active rear-wheel steering, all networked to try and act like none of them exist. And weirdly, from 20-85 per cent of the operational envelope, they do. The Eletre S is the one TG spent the most time in, and it manages to work with it’s own weight so that it feels at ease going very quickly, without the usual heave and ho one associates with big-mass electric SUVs. Nope, it’s not a housefly and needs some attention, but lovely steering and decent body control mean you can pick a line and stick to it without hedging your bets with the steering all the time and adding inputs during the corner.
In fact, it’s only in extremis that the Lotus changes character. Push too hard and it’ll generally just understeer, feeling very safe and front-wheel drive-biased. Which is fine in Tour. But actually, in the sportier of the modes, we’d expect a Lotus to feel more rear-biased, more exciting. Which it isn’t. It’s absolutely competent, but it sticks the intellectual landing rather than aces it.
The R might be more of an animal – the rear motor is much bigger and more powerful compared to the S – but we simply didn’t get the opportunity to actually experience it past those few minutes on a sweaty runway which provided absolutely no insight. Notable though, that if you try and switch off all the electronic nannies like ESC, they never really switch off… so there are compromises.
Honestly, as far as the experience goes so far, the Eletre is probably the best-handling electric SUV in this sector, though that’s working within the confines of the raw physics. In terms of what we’ve tried, the S has nice neutrality, good grip, a solid feel and absolutely enough pace (0-62mph in 4.5s), without being hugely exciting. It can get a bit choppy on a very badly-surfaced road, but you’d struggle to lose all that interference from a wide rear tyre without compromising the handling.
The R might be a little more bold in the balance, but don’t get carried away with 0-62mph in under three seconds: you’ll show your mates a couple of times and then probably not bother. The R also gets an extra Track mode in the menu options, but there wasn’t much opportunity to see what it was doing.
What about when the charge starts to run out – what’s that like?
Charging is pretty good, actually. The 800-volt system has a 350-volt DC ability, but that’s what it peaks at, rather than its average charge rate. Stick it on a decently-rated charger from 10-80 per cent and you’ll only be paused for 20 minutes. More laterally? You’ll punt 74 miles of range into the car every five minutes-ish on a big enough charger.
Weirdly, the Eletre has a 22kW AC charger as standard, so if you do find a big three-phase supply it’ll top off the big battery in sub-six hours, but not many people swan around with industrial three-phase in their home garage.
On a more usual 7.4kW domestic electric car charger, expect it to take around 17 hours to charge from flat to full. Big battery, that. There’s also an app, smart pre-conditioning, the usual sat-nav plotting for en-route charging and the rest. It’s actually a pretty solid effort from Lotus: no big holes here.
Previous: Overview
Continue reading: Interior
Interior
What is it like on the inside?
And we come to another huge step for the Lotus brand, because the Eletre embraces technology in a big way. And it’s not pared-back or simplified for the interior. Or, in this case, the exterior either. But first, the insides. Plenty of space for four (there is a four-seat interior option) or five is the basic takeaway, decent boot at 688 litres, if not massive for the size of car. The 46-litre frunk looks much smaller than that and is largely useless unless you smuggle paperback books for a living.
In front is a 12.6-inch important driver info strip behind the hexagonal steering wheel plus a big head-up display, a 15.1-inch OLED touchscreen in the middle, with a couple of small rockers for air con underneath. Paddles behind the wheel deal with brake regen (left) and driving modes (right). There’s wireless charging and enough storage, though the S we tried had the centre console’s underside taken up by bits for the excellent KEF stereo, which is worth the trade off.
The front seat passenger also has a touchscreen strip of their own, which let’s face it, is a bit annoying when a road trip companion or child has direct access to playlists. There’s a digital personal assistant (voice control) and OTA updates. One of which is Apple CarPlay/Android Auto which should arrive soon, though Lotus really wants you to use their native systems.
One thing to note: in pictures, the Eletre looks a bit over-the-top, but in person we found it to be generally lovely. The clothy bits are made from Re-Fibre made from waste fabric from the fashion industry, and it’s really nice. There are also optional UltraFabric seats made from polyurethane (half the weight of leather), carbon neutral Alcantara and Econyl carpets made from 100 per cent post-consumer waste. Which always sounds vaguely unsanitary, but makes for a nice weave. Ok, so these things are a bit of marketing spin on a car that vomits CO2 quite heavily during production, but it all helps.
Better than that, it all fits together properly, feels tactile and sits together logically. It’s a really nice place to sit. On top of all that, there’s a lot of ADAS. There are 34 – yes count ‘em, 34 – sensors on the Eletre. Four deployable LIDAR (two in pop-up turrets either end of the roof and two on the front wings), six radar, seven cameras and 12 ultrasonics. There are a pair of NVIDIA Orin-X chips doing all the brainwork, and one stat that appeals is that they can manage 500 TOPS (trillion operations per second). Which sounds like a lot.
It maps absolutely everything and is apparently Level 4 autonomy capable, though there’s no legal framework for it to operate as such just yet. As far as it goes, the mega-cruise control/Highway Assist is pretty darn good. One thing it can’t do is stop some of the basic ADAS from being super-annoying though: speed limit warnings and lane-keep assist need switching off, and they need to be more easily accessed than three/four elements into the menu.
Previous: Driving
Continue reading: Buying
Buying
What should I be paying?
Well, the range runs from the base Eletre at £89,500 through the Eletre S at £104,500 to the more powerful – but visually identical – Eletre R at £120,000. Sounds expensive until you look at the market and note that something like a Range Rover Sport SE starts at £83,620 and a P550e Autobiography lists at £114k. Ditto pricey full-fat Range Rover. The best Taycan – the 4S Cross Turismo – is £95,200, so the Eletre, in context, seems priced fairly reasonably.
We’d go with something colourful – the flatter shades don’t seem to suit the Eletre – with a silver wheel. Green over tan looked very nice on launch, probably as an S. Likely £110-115k with some options. For that you’re looking at a Porsche Taycan GTS Sport Turismo (£111,200) which would be the real killer choice to make. The Porsche is better to drive, but some people want an SUV, and the Eletre is the best of that particular bunch.
Benefit-in-Kind for ’23-’24 is two per cent, and you’re probably looking in the region of £1,200 a month on the usual kinds of lease. So not absolutely out there in terms of what these things cost. Obviously these are all about context, but the Lotus isn’t the worst of the bunch by some way.
One thing to note though, Lotus needs to get its dealer network up to speed, firstly to get bums on seats with the Eletre, and secondly to make sure that it can service and look after a vehicle that has very little in common with anything the company has produced before.
Lotus is likely to offer the Emira sportscar and the Eletre electric SUV in India. According to a media report, British sports carmaker Lotus is set to announce its entry into the Indian market on November 9, 2023. As per the report, Lotus has partnered with Exclusive Motors to ...
Lotus, an automotive company that hasn’t always been known as a leader in economical electric vehicles, is trying its hand at a new electric bicycle. But don’t think this is a sneaky way to get a cheap lotus, as even the newly announced Lotus Type 136 e-bike costs a ...
A Chat with Dan Balmer, Regional Director – Lotus Asia-Pacific and Middle-East : Relight My Fire Buona Terra Italian Restauran, Singapore – Disco never goes out of style. Neither does Lotus, it seems, as the brand gets groovy and enjoys a newfound renaissance thanks to investment from majority shareholder ...
Dan Balmer, 47, oversees 19 Lotus markets including Dubai. We chat with the Briton at the Singapore launch of the Lotus Eletre. How long have you been a motorist in Dubai? Five years, from 2018 till now. What do you like about motoring in Dubai? The open space and very ...
