Lotus has claimed that the Emira will be its last car powered by internal combustion, with the plan to go all electric by 2028. There are some rumors that this move could be delayed, but the overall trajectory has not changed, particularly given the focus of Chinese parent company Geely. But Lotus’s hallmark is sportiness through low weight rather than sheer power, which is the exact opposite of hefty battery-laden EVs. So I took the Lotus Emira for an extended test drive to find out exactly what the company needs to replicate in electric form.
The Lotus Emira you’re supposed to need is the Toyota-derived 3. 5-liter supercharged V6 with manual gearbox, which has earned rave reviews as one of the brand’s most successful cars of all time. However, I intentionally chose the one you don’t like, which comes with a 2-liter inline 4-cylinder engine. The differences in strength and functionality are so great. The V6 has 400 hp, while the I4 has 360 hp. That means the V6 takes 4. 2 seconds to reach 60 mph, while the I4 takes 4. 3 seconds. Top speeds are 180 mph and 171 mph, respectively.
However, the I4 is only available with an automatic gearbox, which is the main reason why purists say you should go for the V6. It’s a dual-clutch system with eight gears, sourced from AMG like the I4 motor itself (it’s the same one as a Mercedes A45, but with a little less power). The reason why I chose this was to get a driving experience more like an EV. No EV will have a manual gearbox – there isn’t any point considering the torque curve of electric motors. A few EVs, most notably the Porsche Taycan, have a second gear to promote efficiency at speed. But we will have to say goodbye to gear changing, rev matching and heel-and-toe in the move to EVs. It’s inevitable.
Those who plan to do a lot of track days will have more fun with the manual V6 version of the Emira. But it always feels like a waste to own a beautiful car you rarely ever use. Having owned a manual classic sports car with a heavy clutch for about 13 years, they’re not ideal for London traffic, although your left ankle will be considerably strengthened. Sheepishly, I have to admit, that one of the things I love about the EV I regularly drive and own is how little you have to do to make it go fast. On one level, it’s less involving, but it leaves your attention available to concentrate on other aspects of driving. It also makes opportunistic overtakes a doddle.
Whichever Emira you choose, it’s no substitute for the fact that this car is incredibly beautiful. You’d be hard pressed to find a Lotus sports car that doesn’t look great, but the Emira is one of the best, even among its illustrious peers. A sleek mid-engine profile with huge air vents near the rear wheels provides a vintage Lotus look, with a fierce nose accented through gaps on either side of the front hood (or hood for American readers). You should not open this panel under general circumstances, as there is no engine underneath (of course) and no luggage area. It has minimal space in the back (151 litres), but it can also get hot, so possibly not ideal for your next cheese shop shopping holiday, it could be advantageous for picking up takeaways.
Lotus also objected to the interior grain. While the Lotus’ exterior never disappointed in terms of appearance, the interiors were another story. Usually collected from other manufacturers’ portion bins, they seemed reasonable and out of place for such fast cars. It’s still a fairly minimalist cabin, but it feels modern (some argue this more than the competition like the Porsche Cayman) and includes a decent infotainment formula with Apple CarPlay support.
In other words, the Emira is a fun car to drive and not something you put yourself through because it’s fun to drive. Despite the lack of a shifter, there’s still plenty of laughs to be had with the automatic transmission. You can enjoy a manual “flappy paddle” with the Emira i4, downshifting for overtaking. There are also 3 driving modes: Touring, Sport and Track. These tune the handling, suspension and engine, with the Touring softening the springs and damping, with a lower center of gravity for greater stability. Sport stiffens the springs and dampers, with greater camber and toe angles for greater grip. Throttle reaction is greater, with an upper rev limit, and the exhaust is (noticeably) louder. Track mode is necessarily “more of the same”, but we must also deactivate the ESC and traction control. If you need to achieve maximum acceleration, you will have to use this mode.
The Emira took Lotus to a higher level in its sense of quality.
For everyday driving on British roads, it’s a great set of options. Drive about town or on the highway in Touring mode for greatest smoothness and efficiency. Dial up to Sport for a twisty A-road in dry weather. And if you do head to the track, there’s a mode to enhance that experience as well. I didn’t try the Track option a lot (it’s rather noisy for passengers), but when I did, there was a lot of fun to be had. The flappy paddle gearbox and setup aren’t as good as in the Maserati MC20, but it’s up there. The only real criticism I have is that the Emira i4 is a bit slow to get into reverse, which makes parking a bit more painful than it should be.
Handling is, of course, sublime. My test car had the Tour rather than the Sport chassis. While the latter is the choice if you do want to head to the track a lot, the Tour option is much easier to live with on a daily basis, and still more than good enough for an engaging experience. The steering on the Emira is incredibly assured and responsive. Unless you turn off traction and ESC, the roadholding is about assured as it could be. The sense that the Emira will do what you ask and go where you direct is amongst the best of any car I’ve driven.
Another striking feature of the I4 is its economical nature. On my test drive, which was still legal for UK roads but was lively at times, the car still returned 38 mpg (32 miles per US gallon) in a mix of motorway, country road and city driving. This is a surprising result considering the speed of this car and the fact that it does not have a hybrid system. Prices start at £81,495 ($99,000), which is rarely as low as originally expected, but about the same as the equivalent Porsche Cayman.
The Lotus Emira is an incredible sportscar, a pinnacle of engineering excellence that shows the validity of trying to keep the weight down with a combustion-powered vehicle. But how can Lotus replicate this joyful experience in the electric era, where two tons are more the norm? So far, the electric Lotus range consists of the Evija hypercar, Eletre SUV, and the much-praised Emeya luxury sedan. It’s obvious why none of these are low-weight cars epitomized by the legendary Elise. This has not been possible with current battery technology. The original Tesla Roadster was over 1,200kg, compared to the 700-800kg of the Elise it was based on.
Theory 1: The direction Lotus intends to take in the electric age.
Lotus has teased its new direction with the Theory 1, although this is very much a concept rather than anything we will see on the road. The target is “under 1,600kg” for this car, but that’s still twice what most Elises have weighed throughout their 25-year production run. The Theory 1 also looks like it will be more in Evija than Elise territory. Last year, Lotus was saying its first mainstream electric sportscar would arrive in 2027, at a price rumored to be around £75,000. This is the Type 135 (actual name not yet revealed – the Emira is the Type 131). However, more recently Lotus has said this timeframe could slip depending on battery technology.
The Emira is already considered heavy, at 1,446 kg (the V6 is even a little heavier). But making a fully electric vehicle, even at this weight, using existing technology, is problematic. The modern and attractive MG Cyberster is relentlessly fast in a straight line, but the single-engine edition weighs 1,850 kg and the twin-engine edition 1,984 kg. It’s a great car for daily or long-distance driving, but it’s not a dedicated sports car like the Emira.
The Caterham EV Seven is a 700kg electric sports car with a 51kWh battery, but it’s primarily intended for track use. Caterham also recently brought in a more road-focused coupe with IMMERSIO CTP technology from XING Mobility, called Project V. It is said to have a 55 kWh battery and weighs just 1,190 kg. This is more of what Lotus should aim for with the Type 135, but to take advantage of the Emira’s GT features you’ll need a larger battery and a range of at least three hundred miles.
It will be a few years before we see an electric Lotus that can do everything the Emira can do.
There is, of course, the sub-1,000kg McMurtry Spéirling, obviously only designed for track use. Rimac’s Nevera is the most exciting electric vehicle I’ve ever driven, but it’s a $2 million hypercar that can accelerate to 60 mph in 1. 8 seconds. It also weighs 2,300kg, which handles incredibly well on a track. But that’s what a Lotus sports car is all about. It’s meant to be brilliant on the track, but also with the ability to get you there and back, and with a price tag like a hypercar.
The question is not only when Lotus will be able to mirror a car like the Emira in electric form, but also whether it will be possible. The battery of a Tesla Model 3 Long Range weighs around 480 kg. Although electric motors tend to be significantly lighter than internal combustion engines, this is not enough to make up the difference. A full 52. 5-litre fuel tank in the Emira weighs less than 40kg.
In other words, battery power density would probably have to be multiplied almost tenfold before an electric edition of the existing Lotus Emira could offer similar handling to the combustion edition. Until then, the selection will fall on a similar dynamic but without the autonomy of a grand tourer, nor the ability to offer greater distances but not the same agility. Either can be a wonderful experience, but you still might not get it at the same time, demonstrating how automotive electrification is revolutionizing standards and posing potentially tough decisions for automakers.
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