If there’s one thing the makers of high-end electric cars feel obliged to do, it’s compete on paper. Ideally, every number a manufacturer is required to assign to a flagship EV will be preposterously large (think output) or infinitesimally small (usually acceleration) - especially when compared to its closest rival. The incoming Lotus Emeya, with up to 905hp and 0-62mph in 2.78 seconds, is a case in point - even if Porsche retains bragging rights with the 952hp and 2.4-second-to-62mph available to the Taycan Turbo S (Turbo GT buyers get even sillier numbers).
Now, though, Lotus has found a chink in Porsche’s armour thanks to page 9-10 of the 2023 P3 Charging Index for Asia. In that document, the global consulting firm apparently compared the fast-charging capabilities of various ‘market-leading’ EVs and decreed the Emeya’s battery capable of getting from 10 to 80 per cent charge in just 14 minutes. Whether or not that does actually constitute a ‘record-breaking’ charging time using a public network (as Lotus suggests) is probably less significant than the fact the car achieved a peak charging rate of 402kW against an average of 331kW. The latest Tacan tops out at 320kW. Bingo.
While this is unlikely to have future Emeya buyers pumping their fists in the face of Porsche owners (if for no other reason than the fastest UK chargers currently run out of puff at 350kW - and PH has never witnessed one get close to that figure) it does at least speak to Lotus’s suggestion that its hyper-GT will accrue nearly 200 miles of range in just 10 minutes. Which really would give you just enough time to nip off for a pee and buy a Crunchie before contentedly resuming your journey (assuming in the future you’ve located a powerful enough charger in ideal conditions and then consume said charge at the WLTC rate of 18.7kWh/100km).
So it’s not without the usual disclaimers then, although the Emeya’s performance does reinforce the idea that the Chinese side of the Lotus coin is at the forefront of such tech, including the way it packages and cools its battery cells. Additionally, it has already designed a suite of commercial solutions that provide for an ultra-fast 450w charger, as it encourages the world to embrace what an 800-volt electrical architecture means for tedious wait times. “Emeya pushes the boundaries for how an EV performs, providing drivers with the confidence to travel anywhere,” noted Qingfeng Feng, Lotus’s CEO. “We’re bringing an unrivalled driving experience in the ultimate grand tourer package, so drivers want to go electric.”
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