When Lotus unveiled the all-electric Evija hypercar in 2019, everyone immediately saw it as a potential Nürburgring-Nordschleife lap record setter for production electric vehicles.
At the time, Louis Kerr, Lotus's principal platform engineer, confirmed those expectations to PistonHeads. "Yes, we are thinking of the Nordschleife, we think we'll be comfortably quicker than the NIO EP9 there," he said.
As a reminder, the 1,341-horsepower NIO EP9 set a blistering 6:44.97 lap in 2017. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic hit shortly after the Lotus Evija was unveiled, and the 1,973-horsepower hypercar didn't get to prove its mettle on the Nürburgring.
That is about to change soon, Lotus suggested during the "Unleash The Future" global news broadcast on October 25. When mentioning that the Eletre R high-performance electric SUV has been tested on the Nürburgring, Lotus Cars Managing Director Matt Windle added that the Evija has also been lapping the track, albeit via an advanced vehicle simulator for now (watch the video above for the full comments).
"Our simulations are showing us that the Evija is very quick. That's exactly what they should show because the car is ultra-powerful, lightweight for an EV and it's got incredible downforce. In terms of taking the car itself to the circuit, all I can say at the moment is watch this space."
Gallery: Lotus Evija Fittipaldi
We'll certainly be watching, and we're pretty sure you will too because the Lotus Evija has everything it takes to become not only the new production EV king of the Nürburgring but also the quickest production car overall.
As a reminder, the Lotus Evija features a quad-motor all-electric powertrain with a targeted output of 1,973 horsepower (1.47 megawatts or 1,471 kilowatts) and 1,253 pound-feet (1,700 Newton-meters) of peak torque.
Factor in the curb weight of just 1,680 kilograms (3,703 pounds) made possible by the full carbon fiber chassis and exceptional downforce enabled by the active aerodynamics, and the Evija seems built specifically to rule the Nordschleife.
Powered by a 70-kWh battery pack, the AWD system with independent torque vectoring propels the Lotus Evija from zero to 62 mph (100 km/h) in under 3 seconds, from zero to 186 mph (300 km/h) in under 9 seconds and on to a top speed above 200 mph (322 km/h).
Lotus targets a WLTP range of 215 miles (345 kilometers) for the Evija—obviously not in Nürburging lap record setting mode. The company plans to build only 130 units, each priced at more than $2 million. Now don't go checking your bank account because the entire production run has already sold out.
