Lotus has shown its most powerful and most extreme car ever, the Evija all-electric hypercar. In fact, according to the specs published by the U.K.-based sports car maker (now owned by Chinese giant Geely), it will be the most powerful production car ever made, just nudging ahead of the likes of the Pininfarina Battista.

It’s a truly gorgeous looking thing, with typical Lotus design but rendered in a more futuristic manner that not only makes the car stand out, but at the same time it makes it look far more exclusive than anything the automaker has previously sold. However, while I love the way it looks, there’s something a bit peculiar about its claimed performance - to me, the amount of power and torque and the declared benchmark sprint time just don’t add up. I think it should be faster than they say it is, so keep on reading as I try to elaborate as to why.

How quick does Lotus say the Evija is?

Lotus says the Evija (the ‘j’ is silent, so you pronounce it ‘Eviah’) has four individual electric motors, one on every corner. Each makes 500 PS (497 horsepower) and the combined total is a round 2,000 PS (1,987 horsepower); total torque is rated at 1,700 Nm (1,254 pound-feet) and the vehicle weighs 1,680 kilograms (3,703 pounds).

Lotus Evija sprint times

How quick do I think it should be?

It is definitely going to be blisteringly fast, but there are plenty of cars out there with less than half its horsepower and they can and do accelerate faster than that. The 2017 Porsche 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid, for instance, with 887 PS (875 horsepower) was independently timed as being able to reach 96 km/h (60 mph) from a standstill in an almost unbelievable 2.2 seconds - Porsche was apparently being conservative with its claimed 2.5 seconds time.

Another example is the all-electric 2018 Tesla Model S P100D with the so-called “Ludicrous mode.” Tesla says it can reach 96 km/h (60 mph) in 2.4 seconds but it too was independently timed at 2.28 seconds, so over one tenth quicker than claimed. And keep in mind the Model S is quite a heavy car (especially compared to the Evija) and nowhere near as aerodynamic as it either.

Want another car that will apparently beat the Evija off the line? How about the V-8-powered 2010 Ariel Atom 500, with 500 horsepower, that only has 550 kilograms (1,212 pounds) to lug around. With its impressive 900 horsepower/ton power to weight ratio, it sprints to sixty in just 2.3 seconds, and unlike the two aforementioned cars, all its power is transmitted to the road via the rear tires. But as impressive as the Atom 500’s power to weight ratio is, the Evija trumps it with 1,182 horsepower/ton and with all-wheel drive, it theoretically should be much faster.

Finally, I must mention the very similar Pininfarina Battista, a car with slightly less power (1,900 horsepower), but more torque (2,300 Nm or 1,696 pound-feet) and all-wheel drive. Its makers claim it will sprint to sixty in under 2 seconds - one full second faster than the Lotus and to me the British automaker’s very conservative sprint time estimate just doesn’t make sense.

Why say it will sprint in under 3 seconds when that’s really nothing to brag about given that there are other cars already out (some over 10 years old) that are quicker than that and the vehicle that’s as close to a direct rival as it’s got (with similar power and torque) is a full second quicker?

Final word

To me this all seems strange and my only explanation for it is Lotus hasn’t really given its Evija prototype the full beans, as they say in the U.K. - the current performance estimates the manufacturer has provided must be very conservative, at least from naught to sixty, because the Evija should really be much-much quicker to sprint. Maybe when it releases the full official performance numbers, the sprint time will drop to a level that better reflects its grip and power combination. I mean, the Evija really should be able to sprint to sixty in under 2 seconds, not 3, and I’m now waiting for Lotus to publish more accurate figures.

Further Reading

Did Lotus Just Rewrite The Book on All-Electric Supercars with the 2020 Evija?

Read our full review on the 2020 Lotus SUV.

Read our full review on the 2018 Lotus Exige Sport 410.

Read our full review on the 2017 Lotus Exige Sport 380.