Tomorrow UK carmaker Lotus will launch its Type 312 Eletre electric sports utility vehicle (SUV). This is a big departure from the brand’s usual sports and hypercars, including the all-electric Evija, and will be Lotus’ first mass-produced electric vehicle (EV).
Lotus are taking electric vehicles seriously and see them as the future, especially since they announced their partnership with Britishvolt back in January. The partnership will focus on fast-charging, optimising energy density and weight reduction for greater efficiency in its vehicles.
Matt Windle, Lotus Cars managing director, said: “Lotus is delighted to be collaborating with Britishvolt. These are the first exciting steps on the journey towards an all-new electric sports car from Lotus and yet another step towards the transformation towards sustainable, renewable electricity stored in batteries.”
“Last year we committed Lotus to a pure-electric future and in the first month of this year, we announce another significant step on that journey.”
The new Type 132 Eletre electric SUV, which was designed at the Lotus Tech Creative Centre Limited (LTCC) in Warwickshire in the UK, takes the core principles and Lotus DNA from more than 70 years of sports car design and evolves them.
From the teaser pictures that Lotus have revealed the Type 132 is a sleek looking vehicle. It features neat curves that improve aerodynamics which ultimately help with efficiency and range when it comes to electric vehicles. This puts it in a similar range in terms of size and shape with the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Tesla Model Y.
The Type 132 Eletre will be the company’s first car based on the new Lotus Premium Architecture electric platform. Apparently, it will be available with different size batteries ranging from 92kWh to120kWh. We expect it to be a speedy mover in line with Lotus’ history of delivering performance cars.
The Type 132 is the first-ever performance electric SUV from Lotus and will be followed a four-door sports coupe (Type 133) and a smaller SUV (Type 134) in the coming years. We will bring you more details as they are released.
