Lotus has unveiled the Evija. With target figures of 2,000ps of power and 1,700Nm of torque, Lotus hopes the BEV hypercar will become the world’s most powerful production road car.
Key to the power output is a 2,000kW lithium-ion battery, supplied – along with its management system – by Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) as part of a joint venture to collaborate on advanced propulsion technologies.
The battery pack is mounted centrally behind the passenger compartment. This positioning delivers advantages in terms aerodynamics, packaging, weight distribution and dynamic handling. Furthermore, Lotus has designed the setup to allow future instalment of alternative batteries, such as a track-optimized pack.
Power is fed from the battery pack to four independently controlled high-power density e-motors. These feature integrated silicon carbide inverters and an epicyclic transmission on each axle of the four-wheel-drive powertrain. The motors and inverters are supplied by Integral Powertrain.
Four compact, light and efficient single-speed, helical gear ground planetary gearboxes transfer power to each driveshaft. Measuring 100mm in depth, each gearbox comes packaged with the e-motor and inverter as a single cylindrical electric drive unit.
Intelligent torque-vectoring, enabled by the four e-motors, enables fully automatic, self-adjustment to distribute power to any combination of two, three or four wheels. The Lotus Evija is also equipped with ESP stability control, with further grip provided by the four-wheel-drive system.
