When Chinese conglomerate and emerging EV powerhouse Geely acquired the famed British sports car brand Lotus, nobody really knew what to expect. Now we have some idea: the new Lotus Emeya electric sport sedan apparently cribs enough Geely EV know-how to offer charging speeds that rival some of the very best out there right now.
In fact, the Emeya is actually ahead of most electric sedans on the market. The upcoming sporty electric sedan from Lotus, which features a big 102-kilowatt-hour battery pack and an 800-volt platform, posted a remarkable charging time from 10 to 80% of just 14 minutes, with a peak charging power of 402 kilowatts—a result that surpasses the manufacturer’s original estimates for the model.
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The Lotus Emeya has specs to match the best performance EVs
With a bespoke 800-volt platform, over 900 horsepower in top trim and 400 kW charging, the Lotus Emeya has the specs to match or surpass heavy-hitting performance electric sedans like the Porsche Taycan or the Lucid Air.
For the charging session when this peak was observed, organized by independent consulting firm P3 in Germany, an average of 331 kW was recorded. That's higher than the maximum charging power of most EVs. Lotus says that if you hook up the Emeya to a 400 kW DC fast charger, like the one used for this test, the car can achieve that impressive 10% to 80% recharge time.
This exceeds Lotus' own claims (that it officially does 0-80% in 18 mintes) and it puts it ahead of rivals like the recently updated Porsche Taycan, which we charged from 8 to 80% in 16 minutes. Lotus estimates that the Emeya can regain up to 192 miles (310 kilometers) of range in 10 minutes.
There are a few caveats to note here. For one, a 400 kW charger is an extremely fast and rare one; those are just now starting to roll out in some places. Additionally, that Taycan test was done at a 350 kW Electrify America station, arguably the "fastest" chargers you'll find in common use in the U.S. So an Emeya vs. Taycan test may be more fair if they're both using the same speeds. The Lucid Air's max charging speed, at most, is rated at 300 kW.
Lotus is also working on rolling out its own 450 kW charging units that are potentially even faster.
One way the Emeya achieves this remarkable charging performance is through the use of cell-to-pack batteries, which allows Lotus to package 20% more cells in the same space compared to a similar battery pack that’s split into several large modules. This means the cells are placed directly inside the pack rather than into modules, which is how most automakers do it.
In the Lucid Air, for instance, the standard 92 kWh battery pack is made up of 18 modules, each with a capacity of about 5.1 kWh, and the large 112 kWh has 22 modules.
Gallery: Lotus Emeya Charging
Full-scale production of the Emeya will begin later in 2024 at the new plant that parent company Geely built for Lotus in Wuhan, China, where it will be made alongside the Eletre and other future Lotus EVs. In America, the Emeya will arrive in Q4 2024 with a starting price of over $90,000. The top version will probably get the Eletre’s 905-horsepower tri-motor setup, costing about $120,000. (No word yet on how new tariffs on Chinese EVs may impact its pricing.)
In Germany, the base Emeya costs €106.400, while the top Emeya R costs €150,990. In the UK, the base and top versions cost £94,950 and £129,950, respectively.
Like the Eletre, it features air suspension as standard and a two-speed gearbox for the rear motor, just like the Porsche Taycan and Audi E-Tron GT. It also has active aero in the form of an adaptive air dam and grille that open and close depending on cooling needs as well as a rear wing that rises at speed that and works together with an active diffuser.
Lotus has not published EPA range numbers, but the Emeya should travel about 300 miles on one charge, although the number will be lower or higher depending on the version.
