Lotus Evora 414E - Range Extended electric Vehicle

Lotus founder Colin Chapman wouldn't have liked this car - his design philosophy was 'simplify and add lightness' this car is heavier than a standard evora, having to lug around batteries and electric motors in addition to a 47hp 3 cylinder 1.2 litre petrol engine, which acts as a generator with drive to the rear wheels coming only from a pair of electric motors rated at 414 PS

Lotus says about it's new baby: "The Evora 414E is powered by two electric motor packs driving the rear wheels through its Xtrac transmission with a battery pack that can be charged by the Lotus range extender engine or directly from mains electricity. The Lotus 3 cylinder range extender engine has been design protected to run on either gasoline or renewable bio alcohol fuels (methanol and ethanol). It drives an EVO electric generator which produces electrical energy to either charge the battery pack or power the EVO traction motors directly. In normal driving, the Evora 414E will run purely on electricity stored in the battery pack for up to 30 miles (48 km). With the Lotus range extender and the electric traction motors powering the vehicle through an Xtrac 1092 transmission, the Evora 414E is targeted to produce just 55 g of CO2 / km emissions on the Northern European Driving Cycle (NEDC). Should the driver require more performance, under hard acceleration, for example, the electricity will come from both the battery storage and the small range extender engine. -1000 Nm (738 lbft) of Torque -414 PS (408 hp) -0-60 mph / 97 km/h in around 4 seconds -Top speed 130 mph (209 km/h) -Target emissions of just 55 g CO2 / km (NEDC) It's all Torque Now that the car is undergoing testing, what does 1000 Nm in an Evora feel like? Simon Corbett, Principal Vehicle Dynamics Test and Development Engineer at Lotus Engineering, has been doing the majority of the development testing, over the last few weeks, "The Evora S has 400 Nm of torque which in such a lightweight car is already a healthy figure. But the Evora 414E has two and a half times that amount! The acceleration sensation is almost indescribable, the surge of torque is like an ocean wave!" The 414E shares a lot of it's technology with the upcoming Infiniti Emerg-e concept although the Lotus will likely be the more hardcore version. It is expected that both vehicles will be in production by 2014. Watch video of the 414E testing below.