RE: Lotus Evija X sets third fastest 'ring time ever

[LotusOmega375D]

Why did they wait 6 months to publish this story and video? They could have been back since then and bettered the time.

[GT9]

E90_M3Ross said:

Is it an epic job? If it was to be the fastest EV they've failed. They're almost 20 seconds down on what VW did 4-5 years ago? It's a very fast time indeed, but not entirely sure what is so special about it.

The Evija has a battery more than twice the capacity of the ID.R.
The VW has a mass of just over 1 ton and was built for one purpose only.
The Lotus is closer to 2 tons and the X's powertrain is identical to the road car.
If EV's leave you cold, no problem, but calling the Evija a failure seems a bit disingenuous.

[blearyeyedboy]

LotusOmega375D said:

Why did they wait 6 months to publish this story and video? They could have been back since then and bettered the time.

Over the winter?

[Water Fairy]

Fantastic driving to keep it all together at those speeds. The car, however................meh. The noise of it going round the track says everything. Boring as fook. Give me a quarter of the power and half the weight with a highly strung V8 and a manual 'box please.

Each to their own I guess.

[Terminator X]

Needs more battery. I'll be interested at 3000hp.

TX.

[mikEsprit]

"2,011hp"?
Does the X get additional horsepower? I'm more familiar with the quoted horsepower being 1972.

[pheonix478]

Dubious record aside that's still absolutely insane. Quite terrifying to watch with the sound off actually.

[pheonix478]

blasos said:

The Chinese have truly arrived. Impressive performance by Lotus.

This Lotus is designed, engineered and built in the UK but OK.

[Ray_Aber]

mikEsprit said:

"2,011hp"?
Does the X get additional horsepower? I'm more familiar with the quoted horsepower being 1972.

PS v BHP?

[Mysstree]

The Nordschleife has become so passé.

[gusko]

Seems to me that Lotus are not impressed with the driver. He doesnt get mentioned by name for risking his life chasing an irrelevent time and then gets blamed for not going fast enough .

[AMGSee55]

Owned by Geely, engineered by Lotus and styled by Manhart seemingly….

[Xenoous]

Impressive speed, if not dissapointing in the grander scheme of lap times....

It honestly sounds like a washing machine during a spin cycle when it's driving at speed. That's why these things will never resonate with some of us...

[Jermy Claxon]

I've been looking forward to the reveal of what the road car is capable of for, what, 2 years?

I just don't care what a heavily-modified version can do, it's not competing with anything, so it's absolutely irrelevant.

How does the road-going Evija compare to it's peers? Is it top of the 2000hp EV Hypercar pile or not? I suspect not, or we'd know about it already.

So, rightly or wrongly, I interpret this stunt as "We took so long to actually build the Evija that it has long since been eclipsed by its peers, so here's a pointless trackday special instead."

[E90_M3Ross]

GT9 said:

E90_M3Ross said:

Is it an epic job? If it was to be the fastest EV they've failed. They're almost 20 seconds down on what VW did 4-5 years ago? It's a very fast time indeed, but not entirely sure what is so special about it.

The Evija has a battery more than twice the capacity of the ID.R.
The VW has a mass of just over 1 ton and was built for one purpose only.
The Lotus is closer to 2 tons and the X's powertrain is identical to the road car.
If EV's leave you cold, no problem, but calling the Evija a failure seems a bit disingenuous.

It may well have a battery half the size, but for what purpose was this Evija X built for? You say the VW was built for one purpose only, suggesting this was built for something else, but considering it isn't road legal I'm struggling to think of something other than lap times at a track?

So it has an identical powertrain to a road car....I'm not sure the relevance of that, really? It isn't like with ICE they need to meet emission standards etc, it's just a battery and motors, very powerful ones at that.

Not sure where you got your last comment from. I merely said that I didn't this was that impressive given VW built an EV race car which was much faster 4-5 years ago

[DanG355]

Looks like something out of Ridge Racer. Welcome to the future...

A car my 12-year-old self would imagine we'd all be driving in 2030. At the price, possibly not but what a thing.

[epom]

gruppeb86 said:

I get the whole marketing thing., but what's the point? Meaningless to me.

Marketing is the point I'd say. An incredible time regardless of what it is.

[RSbandit]

Admittedly the road version looks pretty cool but not $2 million cool…as others have mentioned given this is the trick version and 2000hp on tap I thought they would be pushing closer to 6 minutes …super EVs just don’t do anything or me .

[honda_exige]

GT9 said:

E90_M3Ross said:

Is it an epic job? If it was to be the fastest EV they've failed. They're almost 20 seconds down on what VW did 4-5 years ago? It's a very fast time indeed, but not entirely sure what is so special about it.

The Evija has a battery more than twice the capacity of the ID.R.
The VW has a mass of just over 1 ton and was built for one purpose only.
The Lotus is closer to 2 tons and the X's powertrain is identical to the road car.
If EV's leave you cold, no problem, but calling the Evija a failure seems a bit disingenuous.

Or another way of putting it - the Cheaper AMG One, as a fully homologated road car on road tyres set a time only 10sec slower in partially damp conditions.

This is an Evija as a Time Attack build - no lights, no interior, slick tyres, twice the power of the AMG but barely any faster.

It really isn't as impressive as it appears - there's a Porsche 944 Time Attack car that's essentially near LeMans prototype fast - does that mean the humble 944 is retrospectively an incredible achievement? No.

If you throw enough ridiculous aero at something it will start cornering relatively fast - regardless of what is powering it - but this shows acutely that it can't run away from the fundamental weight issue of an EV.

[RumbleOfThunder]

E90_M3Ross said:

GT9 said:

E90_M3Ross said:

Is it an epic job? If it was to be the fastest EV they've failed. They're almost 20 seconds down on what VW did 4-5 years ago? It's a very fast time indeed, but not entirely sure what is so special about it.

The Evija has a battery more than twice the capacity of the ID.R.
The VW has a mass of just over 1 ton and was built for one purpose only.
The Lotus is closer to 2 tons and the X's powertrain is identical to the road car.
If EV's leave you cold, no problem, but calling the Evija a failure seems a bit disingenuous.

It may well have a battery half the size, but for what purpose was this Evija X built for? You say the VW was built for one purpose only, suggesting this was built for something else, but considering it isn't road legal I'm struggling to think of something other than lap times at a track?

So it has an identical powertrain to a road car....I'm not sure the relevance of that, really? It isn't like with ICE they need to meet emission standards etc, it's just a battery and motors, very powerful ones at that.

Not sure where you got your last comment from. I merely said that I didn't this was that impressive given VW built an EV race car which was much faster 4-5 years ago

You're being obtuse. As just explained to you, the Eviya X while extreme is still derived from a road car with a road car power train (designed for drivability and hundreds of miles of range). These factors right off the bat put it at a giant disadvantage to the VW, which is a purpose made prototype, exactly for this type of application, with barely enough battery to make it round a single lap. The Lotus is impressive by any reasonable standard.