After two consecutive years of rapid progress in 2020 and 2021, new energy is now an absolute hot spot in the industry. Last year, the penetration rate of new energy in the domestic market exceeded 10%, and the global market exceeded 8%, from the earlier marginal position, it was unstoppable to enter the mainstream in one fell swoop.
On the one hand, there is a hot market, and on the other hand, there are increasing emission regulations around the world, and the timetable for banning the sale of oil trucks has come and gone. At this time, even the supercar brands that inhabit the niche circle cannot continue to be quiet for many years. Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini and others have successively issued electrification transformation plans and entered the game.
Lotus "Fuel Singing" Emira
However, supercar brands have a positive attitude and are extremely careful in their actions. At present, most of them stay in the test state of "engine downdraft + motor assist". The reason for this is nothing more than the fear of electrification diluting the driving pleasure, and finally smashing his own signboard.
Whether the "electric driving fun" is established or not, there are different opinions. But in the end, it still depends on the understanding of each family's driving interest and, more importantly, how to create a driving interest in the "road line".
As a supercar brand, Lotus, which has just landed in China and is about to do a big job, is full of confidence in reconciling the problem of "electric" and "driving fun".
180° "upside down" electric supercar
Lotus's confidence first comes from its "non-mainstream".
In the era of fuel vehicles, most of the supercar brands are based on engines and horsepower, and the first thing that everyone competes is a more powerful engine and a more sensory roar. Only Lotus is an outlier, using a small displacement engine for a long time to "make up" and focus on the study of aerodynamics and lightweighting. Naturally, there are no less white eyes in the middle, such as Enzo Ferrari's famous sentence "People who can't build a good engine will study aerodynamics." ”
Then again, not focusing on the engine, but can have a place in the super running camp, and even its own faction, Lotus's ability in adjusting the driving control can be seen. You know, Enzo Ferrari's contemptuous but actually sour words were said after the invincible Ferrari was snatched away by Lotus racing team for the F1 championship.
Lotus's power last caused a sensation in the car circle, and the birth of the electric supercar Evija.
2000 horsepower, 0-300km/h acceleration in 9 seconds, 21.88 million price, limited edition of 130 units, any point is very topical, proper flagship level.
But strictly speaking, all of this, especially the exaggerated horsepower and acceleration, seems to be very "dramatic". Anyone familiar with Lotus knows that "power out of miracles" was never its way. What's more, in the electric era, the stack motor can be vigorous, reflecting too high technical content. To be revered as a flagship, true kung fu must be hidden outside the book numbers.
The first is Lotus's obsession with aerodynamics. Under the appearance of Evija pulling wind, there is a "nostalgia" for the air everywhere. Here, reducing the wind resistance is just the beginning, and what is more elaborate is how to let the air flow in and around the body in the most reasonable way, creating an ideal environment for driving control. To this end, Evija incorporates the design concept of "porosity", through the whole vehicle 3 "Venturi Tunnels" and up to 16 aerodynamic kits, the air from "resistance" to "help", like a "breathing" supercar.
Just look at one piece of data and you know that this is not false. The downforce of the general sports car is only 100-300kg, but the Evija can release up to 1.8 tons of downforce, and there is no suspense to win the mass production car record.
Lotus Evija
Meanwhile, as a sports car with a Lotus badge, the Evija had to be light enough. After all, lightweight is also Lotus's housekeeping skill, and "weight" is just a major weakness of electric sports cars. In order to reduce the weight of the car as much as possible, the Evija became the first Lotus sports car to apply a carbon fiber monocoque chassis frame, and with the addition of an all-carbon fiber chassis, even if a bulky battery pack is dragged, the vehicle weighs only 1.68 tons.
What does 1.8 tons of downforce, combined with 1.68 tons of weight, mean? Theoretically, if there was an inverted runway long enough, Evija would even be able to turn it upside down 180° and drive it...
Don't compromise because genes are strong enough
Of course, driving is not an acrobatics, and if you really have the ability to "hang upside down", it will not be useful.
But to be able to do this in a production car, Evija's message to the outside world is already very clear: even in the age of electric power, what is in lotus genes will not be diluted.
Among them, it must be mentioned that Lotus and aerodynamics are involved.
Aerodynamics, nowadays, sounds a bit "rotten street". When car brands sell their own designs, they basically have to mention it. But the design of one or more places to reduce wind resistance, and the aerodynamics pursued by Lotus, known as "qizong", are completely two concepts. Here in Lotus, aerodynamics is not the icing on the cake, but a car-building philosophy that settles down. It is also in the process of "love and killing" with the air that Lotus has stood at the forefront of the tide several times, leading the technological innovation of the whole industry.
If you were to pick a car to start the Lotus and Aerodynamics story, it would have to be the Mark 8.
Lotus Mark 8
In 1954, the Mark 8, which was equipped with only a used MG engine, defeated a group of good players including the Porsche 550 Spider in the F1 cushion race at Silverstone. Equally striking as the victory is the Mark 8's "bizarre" styling: an extremely low body, exaggerated front and rear arch curves, and an extra-long rear design. This streamlined design, which drastically reduces wind resistance, ultimately becomes a winning factor in the case of power loss, and also opens the way for Lotus to chase aerodynamics.
This was followed by a few cars familiar to veteran fans: the Type49, Type 72 and Type79.
The Lotus Type 49, introduced in 1967, brought two pioneering innovations to the racing world, one was the "rear wing" and the other was the "wedge shape", which both increased the downforce and reduced the wind resistance, marking the official entry of F1 into the aerodynamic era.
Based on the Type 49, the Type 72, introduced in 1970, dominated the track for many years and single-handedly transformed the F1 car from a slick cigar shape to today's wedge shape. At the same time, the lower and lower chassis height and the newly derived side boxes for the placement of radiators naturally gave birth to the ground effect, the focus of the development of the next generation of models.
Lotus Type79
Finally, on the Type79, Lotus opened his mind again, through the guidance of the car's bottom flow, forming a negative pressure zone inside the side box of the car, plus a side skirt close to the road surface, forming a "Venturi effect", obtaining great air downforce and firmly sucking the car on the ground. This "ground effect" allows Type79 to sweep away all opponents. Evija's exaggerated 1.8 tons downforce stems from this.
On the other hand, aerodynamics can be used to maximize its effects without a lighter body.
From the aluminium body of the first track racing mark 3 to the fiberglass monocoque structure of the first civilian sports car, the Type 14 Elite, lightweight design has always been the foundation of Lotus. To paraphrase Lotus founder Colin Chapman, "Increasing power makes the car faster on the straights, but lightweight makes the car faster wherever it is."
Lotus's recognized masterpiece Elise, with an epoxy extruded aluminium chassis, double wishbond suspension derived from racing and a lightweight composite body, is a textbook example of lightweighting. The corresponding guidelines continue all the way to Emira, the finale of last year's fuel launch. Evija's all-carbon fiber design opened the way for the brand to lightweight in the electric age.
Everyone can "beat F1"
However, genes are too strong and too pure, and it is a "double-edged sword" after all.
Lotus, who is obsessed with driving control, is worshipped as a god in the small circle of racing fans and control fans. But in terms of market performance, it is difficult to call it outstanding. Brand ownership changed hands several times, until 2018, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of lotus, geely group fully promoted development, and finally ushered in a new life.
After the renovation, Lotus is obviously interested in changing its image of "road kart" and moving closer to the market. Earlier lineups, including Elise, Exige and Evora, were all withdrawn. The Emira that replaced them, although inheriting Lotus's driving control genes, has greatly upgraded its materials and configurations, changing the previous simple and even "shabby", showing full sincerity to the market.
Greater sincerity is reflected in the positive feedback on electrification and intelligence.
As early as October 2018, Lotus released the "Vision80" ten-year brand revitalization plan for the world, becoming the first world-class sports car brand in the industry to transform to electrification and intelligence.
Lotus Emira
In April last year, Lotus unveiled Emira, a farewell to the fuel era, and released four new architectures, including the sports car architecture for emira, the supercar architecture for Evija, the high-performance pure electric architecture focusing on crossover and lifestyle vehicles, and the open electric sports car architecture. The determination to transform is at a glance.
In August, Lotus Technology officially landed in Wuhan, marking that the brand has finally taken root in the "hot land" of intelligent electric power - the Chinese market, and domestic production has entered the countdown. At this point, the layout of Lotus for the transformation is basically complete, just waiting for the force.
On the occasion of the establishment of Lotus Technology, the concept of "track-level intelligent driving" was officially proposed. "Track-level driving" is not difficult to understand, it is Lotus's housekeeping skills. The difficulty is "intelligence", or how to integrate "intelligence" and "driving control", two irrelevant and even somewhat offensive things, in one place. According to the Flag set by Feng Qingfeng, CEO of Lotus Group, "In the next ten years, with the assistance of Lotus intelligent driving, as long as you can get a driver's license, you can win the F1 championship."
I have to say that this path is very novel and bold. Although the launch of Evija has fully demonstrated to the outside world Lotus's ability to play with driving control in the electric era. But when it comes to intelligence, the test comes from a completely different dimension. With the support of the big tree of Geely and the Chinese market that is particularly friendly to intelligence, Lotus's confidence will not be in vain.
Better option than Porsche?
Once, Lotus, along with Ferrari and Porsche, was called the world's three major sports car brands. Today, Ferrari sticks to high horsepower and is careful about electrification. Porsche, which has always been good at grasping the market, has taken the lead in entering electrification and provided Thetacan, the only pure electric option among supercar brands, and has received good response so far.
Lotus Type 132
Lotus entered the game at this time, and it was inevitable to clash with the old rival Porsche again on the new battlefield of intelligent electric. It is too early to predict the outcome of the game, but the first product under the Lotus EPA pure electric intelligent architecture - Type 132 is about to debut, which has filled the "watching" mood of the outside world.
In terms of driving control, Lotus and Porsche have their own advantages, and the former can even be said to be more pure. On electric, from the information currently exposed, the Type 132 is higher than 600 horsepower, 100 kilometers of acceleration within 3 seconds and 800V high-voltage fast charging technology, which is a small advantage.
On intelligence, Lotus leverages Geely's powerful local resources, and its advantages are more obvious. In the type 132 trailer that was launched earlier, there is even a figure similar to the lifting lidar, which makes people can't help but reverie.
As the official debut of type 132 approaches, and look at the era of smart electric, how Lotus plays the card of driving control.