The Lotus Evija battery-electric hypercar hasn't entered production yet, but it already appears to have broken at least one record. The Evija (pronounced "E-vi-ya") could be the quickest street-legal car from 0-186 mph, according to the company's estimates.
Lotus previously said the Evija would do 0-186 mph in less than 9.0 seconds. Top Gear noted that this beats internal-combustion supercars like the Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport and Ferrari SF90 Stradale.
Granted, it's only at those high speeds that the Evija pulls away from the competition. That's because in the 0-124 mph sprint, the sub-6.0-second time quoted by Lotus may not be enough to beat the Chiron Pur Sport (5.9 seconds), while the Ferrari comes close (6.7 seconds). We'll have to wait and see.
Lotus has also said the Evija will do 0-62 mph in under 3.0 seconds and hit a top speed over 200 mph. Those figures are nowhere near record breaking in an era where a Bugatti can top 300 mph, and a Tesla Model S can do 0-60 mph in 2.3 seconds.
Lotus Evija electric hypercar
The Evija gets its prodigious acceleration from four electric motors, which produce a combined 1,973 horsepower and 1,254 pound-feet of torque. One motor powers each wheel, enabling all-wheel drive with torque vectoring.
A 70-kilowatt-hour battery pack gives the Evija an estimated range of 250 miles on the European WLTP testing cycle (expect a shorter range on the U.S. testing cycle). To counteract the pack's weight, the Evija gets a carbon fiber monocoque chassis—a first for a Lotus road car. The result is a curb weight of 3,704 pounds.
Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Lotus expects to begin delivering the first of the 130 production cars before the end of the year.
In an interview with Top Gear, Lotus Attributes Director (a.k.a. head test driver) Gavan Kershaw said some development work was done remotely, but that engineers have been back at Lotus' Hethel, United Kingdom, headquarters since May.