2024 Lotus Eletre R: Head-Spinning Power Meets Futuristic Tech
OUR GUEST this week asks to be introduced properly as a hyper-SUV: The Lotus Eletre, assembled in Wuhan, China, is the first all-electric Lotus of its post-petroleum era. In 2017, Chinese conglomerate Zhejiang Geely Holding Group took controlling interest in the 75-year-old manufacturing concern, based in Hethel, England, and has since spent more than $2 billion turning smoky, drafty old Lotus into Lotus Technology, a luxury electric hothouse. To say Lotus got the better end of the deal is heroic understatement.
Geely’s reinvestment saved the company. Meanwhile, the Lotus badge—once an emblem of stick-and-rudder obsolescence—now adorns one of the most outrageous, head-spinning, overqualified automobiles ever assembled, from its 10-setting photochromic roof to its Pirelli moon boots. The Eletre R is the first vehicle in my experience that rivals the technical density, the efficiency and overall sophistication of a Tesla droid.
Enter, a dragon: With 450 hp and 710 pound-feet of torque pawing the earth through all four wheels, the standard-issue Eletre can zip from 0-62 mph in a delightfully sordid 4.5 seconds. The same car is rated at 373 miles of range in the WLTP cycle. Thanks to an 800V system, the cars can recharge up to 350 kW, the company says, netting up to 80% of capacity in 20 minutes, or 74 miles of range in five minutes.
Our test car, the Eletre R—wearing 23-inch Pirelli performance tires—only rates 304 miles of range between charges but, with a titanic 905 hp and 985 lb-ft of torque on call, it promises to make every mile memorable. Actually, I was feeling the effects for days. According to company propaganda, the R—now on sale in Europe and the U.K.—can zip from 0-62 mph in 2.9 seconds.
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