If you like cars the pancake flat topography and big skies of Norfolk can only mean one thing, Lotus. They keep the British flame when it comes to light two-seaters with a rich racing heritage and back catalogue of iconic cars.
That makes the latest addition to their range a clear statement to strike out in a new direction. The Eletre is a five seat four door all electric SUV that could not be further away from what Lotus is known for. It’s bigger than the car you usually see Prince William in, so much so they have had to scale up the famous badge on the front so it doesn’t get mistaken for a dead bug on the bonnet.
The Eletre as humungous SUV sounds humdrum as there are plenty of this ilk on our roads already. In reality it is an arresting design that makes the rare jump from concept to production line with little interference, especially from the accounts department. The aerodynamic touches range from subtle, like lotus flower shaped vents that open and close at the front to huge air scoops at the back you can put your arm into. This being a Lotus all form firmly follows function.
Here’s the thing, it drives brilliantly. The Lotus DNA helix of sharp and involving handing successfully threads its way from their small sports cars to this SUV format. A lot of engineering magic has been poured into how this car will behave across the different driving modes, from Eco through Tour, Off Road to Sport and Individual. For me, Individual, which allowed for everything to be set to Sport and the air suspension to be set to Tour, was my preferred set up for a smiley face. Steering, suspension and brakes all harmonise to give you oodles of confidence in normal driving conditions.
Range is circa 350 miles on a full charge but dig into the performance and it will be closer to 300. Find a fast charger and the battery will whizz from empty to 80 per cent capacity in 20 minutes.
Inside there is plenty of room for the family and chattels. Everything you touch every day is squeak and rattle free and feels as lovely as your partner’s hand. With the caveat of beauty being in the eye of the beholder I thought the 23-inch wheels looked pitch perfect on such a behemoth.
Beauty is only skin-deep though and the Eletre has a lot going on under the surface. It has all the hardware on board for Level 4 autonomous driving. Ram packed with sensors, radars and computing power it is ready for when local legislation allows you to sit back and let the car do everything on a journey. It’s like driving something from the future with the clock ticking on your usefulness. This makes it boldly future proof. Most electric cars you can buy today are Level 2 capable but that is ape like, knuckle-scraping stuff compared to the Eletre whose chipset handles up to 508 trillion operations per second. That’s twelve zeros after the 508. Every second.
Mind boggled yet? For context level 5 is as far as the classification goes. At that point you don’t need to know how to drive at all as you don’t get a steering wheel anyway.
Today you get a peek into that future as the graphics on the main screen show everything around you as a real-time generated view. Waiting at the lights half way around a huge five lane roundabout – near me that would be the M40 at Handy Cross - you can see cars and lorries on the screen as they take position all around you. At other times a cyclist nearby or a pedestrian crossing the road glow eerily on screen. It’s spooky but it’s the way things are going and they are going there fast. As a means of transport the Eletre is a game changer, like seeing a car for the first time when you’ve only ever ridden a donkey.
Price wise this piece of sci-fi starts at about £90,000 and goes to north of £125,000 for the R version that can take you, the family and the dog from 0 to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds. If you’re in the market for a luxury all electric SUV I suggest you heed the siren call from Lotus and check it out. I’ve driven the future and returned like Marty McFly to tell you we’re at an inflection point in our transport journey.