Lotus Eletre 900-mile review. It might look good but there's a problem with this EV. Range..
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ธ.ค. 2023
- I lived with a Lotus Eletre for a week and covered nearly 900 miles in it to see how well it works as a sporting family EV. Unfortunately, there's a major problem; the range between charges is terrible..
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Let's be honest, it's an absolute monstrosity! Electric cars still going the wrong way in terms of weight and power. Bring us efficiency over everything else
Could not agree more - lightweight and super areo is the only way to go to make good EVs - not f***ing SUVs
I think for that would be Citroen C3 or something recently I've heard about. To compete with Chinese brands in the European market. Of course not of that size. But I agree completely. Nearly 3 tones to move my ass around is too much and has nothing to do with the ecology.
I feel that regulators should have focused on hybrids first and move the market to electric when battery technology has improved (as in capacity, less rare earths and recyclable).
It is disappointing that with all the knowledge within Lotus Engineering, they couldn't have developed an Elise EV to give what people really want....A global market electric two-seater sports car with a 250-300 mile range that can be used daily with multiple levels of luxury & options to choose from...
They make cars the customer wants to buy, customers primarily want SUVs, most Porsche sales are SUVs
If ever there was a car where, if you removed badges, no level of inspection could possibly tell you what make it was…
I'd guess KIA, which is not an insult.
Rear looks like a lucid. Front like a McLaren suv
Shows you how far they have moved on.
Down the drain…
The car looks like a generic Chinese E.V..
The main danger with camera mirrors for me is that its a fixed view. With mirrors you can move your head around to widen the view and cover blind spots. You cant do that with a camera mirror. Technology for technology’s sake.
Really good point, mate. Pulling onto motorways from sliproads, I always move my head around to get a really clear view from my mirror from different angles.
Hadn't thought about 'til today when I was looking at a Q8 Etron and the salesman was telling me they're supposed to eliminate blind spots which makes sense with no pillars being in the way. I'm still not a fan but it'd be interesting to have one for a day or so to see if you got used to it.
@@keyop1970the key words here are “a salesman told me”. A glass mirror uses the same blind spot detection as the new camera mirrors. Mirrors are also positioned so there is an unobstructed view. Give one a try but in my opinion there is more chance of missing a hazard than with a glass mirror
@stevepeary5322 D'oh! I was thinking about the pillars getting in the way, but that's because I'm a motorcyclist, so shoulder checks're second nature! 😂
I use them regularly driving a lorry and I cannot agree enough. They feel so video gamey because you can't just move your head to change perspective. Our boss is no longer ordering them as accidents have risen.
Huuuuge respect as always to Harry for providing those maths, numbers and figures. A proper bit of consumer advice that is!!
Harry got a new Lotus for this review or a shed load of cash.
It's not a Lotus Car, it's a Geely car. It's not an English Car, it's a Chinese Car. That's it.
It's British just built in China by it's Chinese owned manufacturer
Exactly, Colin Chapman is turning in his grave.
Too much Geely and not enough Lotus, way too much chintzy zeekr like knobs
It’s a Lotus in the same way that a iX M60 is an M-car!
@@Leo23XR I do not want to finance the Chinese Communist Party which supports Russia in Ukraine.
Great… Another colossal EV with an equally colossal price tag. Just what we need.
fishbert1
You are correct EVs are just what is need in inner city areas because they are zero emmision at the point of use.
500 EVs within a built up ares will be less damaging than just one foscilfueled vehicle
Harry said it has huge brakes, it has to have them to stop the bloody thing it weighs so heavy!
Makes you wonder in this day and age are there really enough people to buy all these expensive cars? Everyone I know couldn’t afford to buy this kind of rubbish. Not sure what planet these manufacturers are living on.
@andypicken7848 You can't even spell, let alone make a coherent case for EV's.
The SUV has been killing off mainstream saloons, coupes and verts for years. Only the "premium" marques still sell anything into respectable figures.
Now with EVs and their massive battery packs, SUVs will be more prevalent.
A whole swathe of homogenous A-B boxes for the mass market to consume.
Side mirror cameras are fixing a non existent problem
And adding more complication that cost a fortune to replace
They are not even equal but more complex. They are plain worse. No depth information
@@LOTPOR0402 Yep, it would be worrying every time you drove down a b road. Already around here SUV drivers drive over the centre line until they have to move over just to avoid getting the 23 inch alloys damaged ...
It would be ironic a big fat EV getting stuck with an oncoming home oil heating tanker coming the other way
🙂
@@zakelwe Not really going on about ,I am going on about insurance repair costs .And you wonder why car ins is sky high .If you are not in the know then go and check out the price of car parts
That good old fashioned saying 'just because you can, doesn't mean you should'
Love this soft sell by a latter day Arthur Daley. ''Someone been using it for the School run.''
I cringed realizing my Mazda 2 won,t cut it anymore and I haven't even graduated to SUVs Still watching EVs but keep getting turned off, no pun intended.
Saw a whole lot of bods waiting as their vehicles recharged and it reminded me of the Dialysis Ward in a hospital
Honestly, all these electric popup handles, video mirrors, LCD screen instruments. All things designed just to leave you stranded or locked in or out of your car when they fail/crash. It is getting ridiculous.
Yeah, I mean how much does a normal door handle can affect the range, it's insane. I mean they get rid of the dashboard buttons just to complicate other things
I'm sure they'd fail pretty quickly in a cold climate and the car is all iced up. Perhaps everyone who spends 96K on a car has sufficient garage space?
But hey, the government will know where you are and send someone to save you.
Or remotely operated 🤔
The new Lotus mantra: Complicate and add weight.
I absolutely hate the fact that you have to turn off lane assist etc before every drive. I drive a Skoda and lane assist is just plain dangerous. It might work on a motorway, but it activates whenever it detects road/tar repair lines in the road and frequently wants to pull me in to the kerb or cyclists etc whenever I forget to turn it off. All to satisfy some daft directive.
Lane assist is unnecessary and borderline dangerous. You can blame the EU for mandating this nonsense.
Lane assist sounds like a good idea in theory, but in the real world it just doesn't work.
Every time I drive a rental this always happens. I'm so glad my 2018 car doesn't have it or I'd be looking for ways to code the damn thing out.
It’s because people are continuously shortening their attention span and are not focussing on driving that we need all this baby care nonsense.
Yep - same on my MG worst thing about the car. Apart from this stupid, dangerous nanny system, it's a great everyday car. NCAP needs rolling back a notch or two in the interests of safety!
A very clear detailed , well filmed and put together review. Pity the car doesn't match, it's outrageous that a £100k car only just has a realistic range of 225 or so miles.
Better range and cheaper than the Porsche Tycan
These Chinese cars copy what's easy to copy about Tesla, w/o what really makes Tesla a Tesla, the EFFICIENCY.
The Lotus badge will pull tossers not real motor enthusiasts,
People get so hung up on range in EV’s. The world of motoring has/is changing. 200+ miles will give you 3hrs driving at 70mph, by which time MOST people will have stopped for a ‘comfort break’, and with super chargers, you can add another 150-200 miles in 25-30 minutes whilst you have a break. Charging speeds will get quicker, and battery capacity will increase with new developments. EV haters will say ‘I always drive for 5-6 hours without having a stop’ - well this isn’t for you then! I’ve grown up with ICE vehicles most of my driving life, but moved to an EV 6yrs ago, and will never go back. Better for me in every metric. EV haters always talk ‘edge cases’ but 95%+ of their daily driving life, an EV will be more than adequate.
Range matters here in Australia.Not a hang up. Cheers @@glenny2960
Some great videos this last year. Aston V8 and 288GTO to name just two. Looking forward to seeing what you get up to next year. For now, have a great Christmas.
A proportion of road fund tax should be based on a vehicle's siza/weight to try to discourage this kind of nonsense.
I have to agree, surely these massive heavy, inefficient vehicles are the total opposite of what we want and need!
Not everyone lives their lives like you. I think you are being tremendously selfish and ignorant to want everyone to want what you want.
Don't do that do that in France?
antonoat
They are not inefficient any EV is more efficient that any foscil fueled vehicle because the ICE is only 30% efficient loosing the majority of its energy in the form of heat
There is no such thing as road tax. It was abolished in 1937.
Genuinely cannot believe we live in a world where that thing wears a Lotus badge
Chapman would be crying 😢
It isn’t. It is a Chinese car wearing a Lotus badge.
@@ScoobySteve555you need to read some history about Chapman! If it made money he’d be interested!
Get over it. Cayennes means Porsche can make the GT cars
like Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and no doubt McLaren will release one sooner rather than later
Nice to see the Square steering wheel from the Austin Allegro has made a come back! 😁
Harry thank you so much for doing the equivalent in miles per gallon,, no one ever does that in these tests and that's the way I relate to these things.
I appreciate it !
In what world is £96k reasonable?!
Harry's World 😁
Its surely not a garage sale 😅
Haha same here. I think 20k is reasonable for a car :)
A car for the people 😂. The roads will only be repaired once us plebs are priced off of them!
Harry the millionaire TH-camr 😂 like most other car TH-camrs (shmee Jayemm etc) they are so far away from reality financially it’s hysterical. The avg uk salary is £35k and the avg person drives 50miles a day, so the problem with this car is not the range (it’s fine) it’s the price 😂
A little bit of my soul just died seeing a Lotus badge on this monstrosity
TBF they said exactly the same thing about the Cayenne. Now Porsche are an SUV maker that happens to make (great) sports cars.
However, Levante did not help Maserati and DBX is VERY far from saving Aston Martin. So SUVs are not a kind of easy magic, working for every manufacturer. There should be some additional substance and I do not see it in this Lotus.
Perhaps there is a place for this car and they obviously think it commercially necessary. I'm just getting older now and it seems every new automotive thing is another step away from everything I love about cars.
@@stanislavolshevskyi5264 because porsche did it first, the later ones are just copycat strategies
By saving planet with this truck they are killing the brands with heritage....
Fascinating video, Harry, the wing mirror replacement package is worth more than my car. I always wanted to say something like that, but it is now true. My car is thoroughly reliable and economical. I am not sure that I am missing out on too much though. Interesting holey design, great for easy cleaning all the mud and stuff which will no doubt appear in every crevice.
Look at Geoff Thomson (Geoff buys cars) and Lee "The MacMaster" (in his Porsche Taykan) their 3 reels on EV v ICE Just disastrous for EV.
What surprised me was the cost of Charging £10's for a few miles of range!
I'm so sorry to see that some bugger has kicked the door in and then walked around the other side and kicked the other door in too.
Yes and then left dirty great big holes at the back of the wheels so that stones are directed straight towards your windscreen...
Loving my 26years old Rover Cabby😊
Exactly my thoughts!
A wise man once said "simplify and add lightness".
Even after his death his legacy was great. It looks like it finally ends with this.
RIP Mr Chapman.
Si levantará la cabeza... Una pena y desvergüenza lo que han hecho con su legado. Haber si se pasa ya esta moda estúpida de los suv y coches muy pesados.
he must be rolling in his grave
@@bean5prout293 Can we hook up a generator and convert that to electric power?
Legacy fully tainted. 😢
...& a wise man's best friends also once said ''You give us all those millions of £££'s, the wife knows the Swiss banking system, we can transfer it thru' Switzerland & onto Panama...no-one will ever find it'' Perhaps you should re-check on that great looking legacy #delorean
Thanks for the early review. Can’t wait to see you review the new EV Range Rover. Also, appreciate the honest feedback on the camera mirrors at night. Don’t hear others talking about those short-comings.
Well done video and the deep technical investigations much appreciated Harry ! I see a lot of comments here, not liking the new way of Lotus at all. Well, I drove RRS and AMG SUVs the past years, but now here in Sweden you are more or less forced to change to EVs. After testing all kind of hybrids like X5, Volvo and the usual candidates like EQE/SUV, iX I found the Lotus Eletre the best deal. It simply has a large boot, making it useful for a family of 4 and a dog.
Drove it in Gothenborg before Christmas and placed the order right after. Fascinating car, handling like a VW Golf in spite of it's size and weight, getting all the looks. I had no chance testing the range with a full battery charge, but even if it not as efficient as announced, for my purposes and daily driving range it is more than sufficient.
This just confirms to me that I will never buy a new car again, ever !
Lease instead.
Depressing isn’t it.
I was thinking the same thing
still driving my 2001 M5 and 2008 F430, both manuals of course!
Simply cannot imagine the awful depreciation on this soulless car ,which unbadged you’d never tell its a lotus.
Why would you be concerned about the depreciation 🤣
Just means it’ll be cheaper for the the 2nd owner, countering all of the ‘this is expensive new’ moaners !
just another Chinese EV
@@SDK2006b"moaners". We have another star for humanity in the comments everyone
@@robsmall6466- it’s like ‘shock’ a luxury, high performance SUV is expensive 🤷♂️
I’d like a Ferrari for £50 a month too but sadly life isn’t that easy 👍🏻
My advice would be don’t watch videos of stuff which is beyond your reach, if it triggers you.
@@SDK2006b You could take your own advice and not be triggered by others comments. The OP is making a valid point on both this particular model and car pricing in general ( especially when it comes to the majority of EV )
Lovely, clear critique. Very brave of Harry.
Please keep doing the cost range and eMPG calculations - love it
I think the fact they had to enlarge the lotus badge pretty much says it all ...
Yep
100% agree this is a poor review and hard downvote from me. With all the amazing cars Harry could review he choose this generic chinese car with lotus badge, nice way to promote geely who own lotus and asset stripping the brand.
also how is 90 grand is cheap for a product dumped chinese ev built from slave labour(Uyghurs concentration camp workers make parts, 10 year olds in central Africa working in dirty chinese owned colbalt mines to dig up the rare earth material that goes into the batteries)? that's shmee150 levels of first world problems..
less shilling for the ccp, what next a review another so called 'British' brand owned by the chinese(Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) MG4 xpower ?
Big badge big ego.
@@Adlata I think you make some good points, but you could never describe Harry as a Chinese shill. He is a genuinely honest car reviewer, in my opinion.
I'm 68, never owned a Lotus but dreamt about them as a young man, and always admired the Chapman philosophy born from guts, passion, and imaginative thinking to make a place in the racing world: I feel really, really sorry for all the young people today who will never experience what young men of my generation experienced...bye bye the automotive industry, it was a fun ride !! Oh, and thank you Mazda for my 2011 MX5 NC, bought second-hand in 2017, affordable, reliable and keeping that smile still on MY face :)
Hahaha, I'm a little younger at only 56 years, but I do love my 2008 Mazda mx5 Niseko Icyblue edition car!
I tend to agree with the sentiment, but most young people today don't care about cars. They're no longer special or exciting and just another household appliance to them. It's just us old farts that are saddened by the end of it all. So get out in the MX5 on a nice Sunday morning somewhere quiet and enjoy while we still can :)
@@samueldowney2806 too true.. numbers bothering to pass their tests has dropped considerably..
The cost of owning a car as a young person has got out of hand. If you look at price, fuel and insurance unless they are living at home or have had the car gifted, forget it. Then you need somewhere to park it.
I understand. I'm born in 1979. A Mazda 3 Astina is my daily driver. An Aston-Martin Lagonda Series 3 V8 saloon ('87 model) is my special car. I prefer automatic movement chronograph watches to any "smartwatch" Chinese crap! Your generation WILL NOT be forgotten ever by me.
13.8 mpg, 2.6 tons and £100k and this is progress! I'll stick to my ST Fiesta thanks 40mpg, 1,2 tons and £24k.
"13.8 mpg" Ummm WTF? This probably gets equivalent of 80 to 90 MPGe. Which is quite bad for a BEV, but still HALF the energy requirement of your Fiesta ST. Just a reminder the Lithium Ion Battery has a tiny fraction of the energy capacity compared to your petrol tank. There is limited amount of energy the car has access to thus needs to be efficient.
OMFG Harry lies, you can not exchange Higher Unit Pricing Cost for Consumption Rate. That is not logically acceptable and mislead to assert that MPG consumption rate is higher. It's not where near 13.7MPG. That's like saying the same car consumes more MPG of Fuel because you are using more expensive fuel. This is absurd nonsense misinformation.
@@Neojhun No it is an accurate way to reflect equivalency in an old measurement method. You need to think a bit more of how he came up with that figure.
Harry did say charging at home at 30p per kWh the equivalent mpg was around 35mpg. It's fast charging at 75p per kWh at commercial charging stations that increases the costs.
to fast charge this pos lotus will cost about 80p a kw.
it'll do 220 miles to 110 kw's
so to travel 220 miles will set you back about 100 quid in fast charging electric 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Wow, this video was really educational. I now know to only shop for cars pre-2024. Having to use an inconvenient touch screen to turn off driver "aids" (an infection) every time I get in, is an instant no-sale.
They give us touchscreens which are borderline dangerous and lane assist which is meant to help but doesn't. Then there's the wing mirror cameras.....just give us glass mirrors...they work!
There are real mirrors in the states because camera mirrors are illegal here
Returning everyone back to manual cars sans the stupidity of alarm bleeps, attention monitors and lane keeping nanny state shite would possibly make drivers better at driving. The ability to control the vehicle, know it's dimensions and deal with its' dynamics has be lost. Better training, less distractions and no 20 mph zones would be better
Mirror cameras make sense only once they can remove the entire stalk. Like, if a camera meant totally removing that bump, a totally flat, smooth aero all down the side of the car, I could see the point. Instead, there's a stalk so it is only a tiny bit better for aero.
Colin Chapman turns in grave.
@@philamato9583 the big problem isn’t that it’s an EV or an SUV. Lotus has proven it can turn both EVs (Lotus Evija) and passenger vehicles (Lotus Carlton/Cortina) into true Lotuses. The problem is that they didn’t even attempt to do so with the Eletre. It’s big, complex and heavy, even by EV standards. And I know that they’re aiming for a larger market and that they needed a Cayenne competitor, but there were so many better ways to do that that would have actually stayed true to Lotus DNA. This ain’t it, chief
Lets save the planet with 2.6 ton EVs, larger than a Range Rover and with absolutely crap efficiency... Yup, that makes sense 🤨
It also completely dilutes the brand's heritage. Now, I am for evolution and change but somehow this doesn't feel right... Or I'm just getting old 🤷🏼♂️
PS: would love to know how long the batteries will last before rendering these vehicles worthless.
Well it’s lighter than a Range Rover and uses electricity more efficiently than an RR burns fuel, with no tail pipe emissions. It’s an improvement 😊
Exactly right…the cognitive dissonance is something to behold.
The Chinese are world experts in batteries, and come with 8yr/100,000 mile warranties, typically.
Obviously ICE cars with their pathetic warranties are hand grenades ;)
@@SDK2006b Exactly. But at 2 miles per kWh and the bulk of it, it will possibly need circa 25k-40k miles to levelise the embedded carbon in manufacturing and use with ICE.
An NMC battery should retain 80% of its capacity for 1000 cycles, so at 250 miles on a charge that’s 250,000 miles and even then it should still be capable of doing 200 miles on a charge so I expect the battery will outlast the rest of the car. For LFP it’s around 300 cycles.
Although I couldn’t in a million years afford any of the cars that you review,you are still the best on u tube.Always interesting and informative keep up the good work.
You aint missing much !
We have a 2023 Ioniq 5 (dual motor) Namsan for our family run about and I was flabbergasted at the difference in range come Winter.
When temps are in the 20C+ we would get close to 300 miles, below 10C and we are on almost 200 full charge.
I have begun to like the camera mirrors but it took a long time.
We live just down the road from Harry and the lane avoidance on the B-roads is borderline dangerous! If I'm not going on a motorway it gets turned off as soon as I get in.
Hopefully Lotus will iron out some of the problems with updates and it will be interesting to see how the range differs come summer.
But as many have said the biggest downside for me would be depreciation. There's a LOT of Taycan s/turbo GT used cars out there going very cheap and I've even heard stories of some Porsche dealers not wanting to take them back for trade-ins...
To also add not having a rear wiper on a SUV in the UK is a nightmare, no matter how much rainX you put on its gets mucky very quickly.
I have a 2023 Ioniq 5 Namsan edition as well and I really dislike the camera mirrors. They're fine in daylight but truly awful at night, especially when trying to reverse. The reversing lights don't seem to do anything whatsoever and the reverse camera on the dash is no better. I really struggle with reversing the car at night. I'll never have another car with reversing cameras again, normal mirrors are absolutely fine! I'm also suffering the same range issues now that the temperatures have dropped, but that comes as no surprise
It's a depressing car, all these things are, but putting a Lotus badge on it is really sad.
for me it just looks like any modern porsche, very expensive, useless and built for disposable income consumerists that can't find anything else to do with their lives
If Lotus had done SUVs 20 years ago they probably wouldn't be chinese owned...
@@EP-bb1rm God, you're a little ray of sunshine...
They'd be Malaysian owned.@@EP-bb1rm
It's not sad if it means Lotus becomes profitable and allows them to keep making sports cars as well.
Harry, we need road testers and journalists to stop saying that things like LKA and automated speed restrictions are just something we need to accept and get used to. Manufacturers need to know that buyers don't want it and many will be putting off buying new cars for as long as possible because of it. Maybe then manufacturers will start to lobby governments on behalf of their customers.
If this new barge is regularly incorrectly identifying speed limits and setting off a warning i would suggest it's not fit for purpose and either needs to be disabled until it can be fixed, or if that’s not allowed, the car should not be allowed to be sold until its ready.
Yep, we shouldn't just turn a blind eye to these new rules. They are all there for more citizen control, in the name of almighty safety...
I, for one, wouldn't really buy any new car even if I'd win the lottery. They're basically spy devices with all the cameras and connected technology,. And just generally crap technically, not made for decades, only for a few years.
I agree that Lane Keep Assist needs to go away - I turn it off in my company vehicle on every drive.
Speed limit recognition doesn't work 100% of the time in any vehicle I've driven, so that's no reason to bar the Lotus from sale. It's a reason to limit the system to a gimmick rather than tying it to mandatory speed warnings or speed restrictors.
Well said.
I hate my Audi Q4 for the same reason. Beeps and bongs all the time and it drives me nuts.
I can’t wait for the lease to end and then I’ll be buying an older car.
All this intervention will almost certainly not achieve the outcome it was intended to achieve (safety) but instead just frustrate everyone buying a new car.
It reminds me a lot of the stupid cookie pop-up that appears on every website (thanks to EU legislation) that everyone dismisses but everyone wastes 5 seconds on every website they visit.
Ah yes, what we need is manufacturers lobbying the governments even more. They all do that already - to the tune of hundreds of millions of euro/pounds every year, all in the name of "supposedly" what the customers want.
It should be the exact opposite - car companies should not be able to lobby the governments at all.
Just want to add - I absolutely agree that if it can't accurately recognize speed limit signs then it should be pulled out from sale as it's not fit for use on public roads.
Thanks for the mpg comparison.
96000 is crazy.. will depreciate .like you would not believe.
At the end of three years this probably won’t even be worth £30k
2 miles/kwh. 😮
Brand leveraging it's brand to make short term shareholders happy is a proven recipe for disaster.
It’s winter. Surely much better in Summer
@@msm4445 So? You don't drive your SUV in the winter? "oh, it's not shit in the summer".
@@hifiandmtb I mean testing an electric car in the summer, and comparing it to anther car tested in the winter doesn’t have any sense. 350km of range in the winter, and on the high way is actually very good.
I really feel for you Harry. So sorry you had to do this.
Wow, it sounds amazing! I just love that V8 roar.
Love the honesty, as always Harry. Range aside, the looks seem so generic (almost boring?!...) although the interior seems a nice place to be.
This just further cements my declining interest and enthusiasm for cars, which for decades have been my passion. I'll sum it up by suggesting watching the into to the Cannonball Run movie with the sound turned off - it's just not the same. Without the visceral feeling of an internal combustion engine, EV's just don't do it for me. Watching some Tesla beat an ICE sports car in a drag race or whatever.... so what. I'm enjoying the last hurrah of ICE cars and will remain grateful I was alive at a time where I was able to do so. It's not about performance, it's about how they make you feel.
ICE cars CAN indeed sound fantastic, but most don't. I much prefer the silence of EVs over regular four cylinder engines, in other words something like 90 percent of what ICE cars have to offer (at least here in Europe).
@@grumblur I appreciate that, but my passion is based around sports cars and classic cars with glorious exhaust notes and intake roars and mechanical orchestras - not daily driver A-B cars. I don't go to car shows to see, or watch TH-cam videos about boring daily drivers. Each to their own.
Great analogy (?) referencing"with the sound off". Clever and point on!
I'm only interested in EVs. Didn't care about cars before. Especially Chinese brands shaking up the market (though it seems Lotus kinda failed).
Some fans exit, other fans enter.
Great analogy and couldn’t agree more , I was into cars from around 4 yrs old , but the cannonball run was the film that cemented it .
It’s funny I see on the news the other night that Tesla were recalling them hateful things for a software update and they were interviewing the chairman of the Tampa Tesla owners club !
Now that’s a meeting I’ve got to see and how interesting and original the cars are 😂😂😂😂
I've seen 2 of these now on the road near me. Both times I've thought they looked exactly like a Kia.
Kias look better. Not something I thought I would ever say about Lotus....
I would rather have the Kia EV6, it’s a better piece of design. It’s cheaper, and has a longer warranty!
not necessarily a slam. There are some good-looking Kias I have to say. The big problem with Kia is that even the ones with nice interiors and exteriors still have pretty bad engineering such as wind noise, ergonomic issues, etc.
@@lqr824in the UK Kias are right up there for reliability and dependability ratings. I understand their reputation in the US isn’t so good though
Dear Mr. Metcalfe, I was going to change my Audi e-Tron RS GT for an Eletre R these days, everything was in readiness at my dealer in the South of France. I've cancelled this order and will now wait to buy an EMEYA instead, I understand that there are substantial improvements to the battery giving it a much more interesting range than my Audi. I hope you'll test the EMEYA as soon as available to you! May I suggest that you do so in France as the charging infrastructure is quite excellent now. With sincerest regards, Baron T.
Ah, yes.. heater controls on switches.. Here's a worthy discussion point imho: Switches versus massive touch screens in modern cars REGARDLESS of the car's motive power choice. One is driving down the road, which may have an uneven surface. One has had the car for a little while and thus is used to the controls. In my experience, i can adjust the heater switches/dials in my car without taking my eyes of the road to find the right area of a screen, especially if potholes are brought into the mix. The tactile feed back of physically operating a solid object is far better. Figher hets have had Hands On Throttle And Stick for decades, to keep the pilot's eyes out of the cockpit for safety, survival and winning the air battle 😊
Great video Harry - thanks for posting. For a company whose mantra under Chapman was all about reducing weight, the company seems to have lost its way big style with this car!
Saving the planet with luxury 3 ton battery powered monstrosities.
And you won’t see any evs in Iain Tyrrell’s classic car workshop being restored in 20 or 30 or 40 years time. We all know all evs are disposable appliances. The batteries, the screens which would not be able to be replaced by then, all the sensors etc.
It takes at least 600HP to save the planet.
It's beyond belief why Lotus never developed an EV Elise/Exige years ago....I can only think Lotus signed some form of non-competing exclusivity contract with Tesla not to develop their own EV using the Elise chassis/platform.
Thanks for so many great videos this year Harry! As for the Eletre, it looks like a lot of Audi Q8 Etron in there - I can’t see any direct references online to this but the mirrors are straight from the Etron Vorsprung and the battery technology and especially the disappointing range are just like the Etron. Having had an Etron for over a year and suffered 60% depreciation with only 20k miles I’d stay well away from these “SUV” EV’s. I went back to a Range Rover Sport Hybrid and don’t regret it for a moment!
With mirrors your eyes can focus to the same/similar distance as when you’re looking forward through the windscreen. With camera/screen mirrors your eyes have to adjust to focus on screens
I’d seriously much rather a review of a Renault 4.
Ha ha I think I just laughed half a mince pie over the other side of the dining room !
Hear hear!
Modern styling and car tech is just awful
I'd actually be very happy to watch a review of one! Musch more interesting stuff to talk about such as wheelbase being longer on one side than on other!😂
Amen
Hateful thing, for many many reasons. I'd list why... but I just don't care enough. Sad. 😢
Thanks for the thoughtful review Harry
Just wondering if the power numbers were mixed up at the beginning? Should it be Eletre 303hp, Eletre S 603hp?
I'm a long time Tesla owner but I have to say I'm excited about the new Lotus EV's. The point is you don't NEED all the tech or the styling. If you are a car guy however, you WANT it. The look of these cars is outstanding. I just placed a deposit on an Emeya.
My little 1.0L 3-Cylinder Ford Fiesta has stopped being produced because the future is electric. But all the electric cars I see are huge, heavy and very expensive, with a debatable UK charging infrastructure.¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And they'll be able to retro fit a Govt control module......
The future is not electric. This farse is nothing but a slow train wreck. Mark my words. Petrol cars are here to stay.
Yes, it's quite ironic!
Not much of a debate regarding the UK charging infrastructure as far as I'm concerned. I left my previous job because they were running an EV.
Tesla Model 3? VW ID.3? Vauxhall Astra Electric? Cupra Born? There are smaller electric cars, but I don't think they have quite the same range as these four. Maybe the Renault Zoe...
You cannot use a handheld device whilst operating a vehicle, as they are dangerous due to the distraction, rightly so, too.(unless you are a police officer as they are obviously special and highly trained and can do whatever they like) but you can use a computer whilst you are driving. Amazing.
I couldn't work out where the speedo was. If it's on that screen it's not in the drivers eye line.
@@mytinplaterailway I think it's a heads-up display projected on the windscreen.
Agree. Total crap. What's the difference? I'm old enough and smart/aware enough to forge my own path. Government is not my god. Be gone.
And we've no idea how many crashes are caused by people using the screens in the car because who is going to admit to that?
Agree...and then there are EV's where you have to take your eye off the road to know how fast you're going...as in....Tesla's and that new small Chinese made Volvo EV...!!...God help us..!!.
I drove a Ford Transit LWB the other day and it was a van, a cavernous van, a 3.5 tonne cavernous van and I loaded it full. 205 miles for £49 of diesel = mind blown!
This Lotus = mind confused!
You were driving on a fairly cold day. How much energy did the heater use? I can IMAGINE range being quite affected by that variable. I don't know, haven't done the calcs.
The old Chapman saying of “just add lightness” has not really been followed here……..😂😂😂😂
It wasn't with the Lotus Carlton either.
Another way of making a car stick to the road. Gravity and mass. I hate how much weight is in all electric cars. Thick doors, massiv dashboard, massive seats. I would love a stripped out version. With dials instead of Display panels. All utterly depressing.
I have even considered converting my old 206 estate to electric.
@@edgarbeat2851
It'd still weigh a lot as the batteries are so heavy, which means you need big brakes, strong suspension, big wheels/tyres... it all gets scaled up due to battery mass.
It’s unforgivable that it has such a massive battery, weighs 2.6 tonnes and struggles to achieve 2 mi/kWh.
That’s the going rate for SUV’s of this size. A lower powered Range Rover weighs 2.7tons and the SVR averages 16mpg
The problem is that it’s an EV
This is not a Lotus. It is an insult to their history.
markgilbertson1564
Its the best car Lotus have ever produced
@@andypicken7848 it is the best appliance Lotus has ever produced
That driver’s side “wing-mirror” screen seems to be angled to suit viewing it from somewhere near the passenger-side A-pillar, rather than from the driver’s seat…
My neighbour's wife works for Lotus and has just arrived here in Essex with a bright yellow one as her company car! Nice work if you can get it!
She'll be lucky if she can do a round-trip to Hethel on a single charge then....& let's not mention all the heavily flooded Norfolk, Suffolk & Essex roads she had to EV avoid...😉
It must be a beast for wearing out tyres.
Yeah. Look into emissions of microplastics from tyre wear. In Sweden more than half of all microplastics in nature comes from tyres, so it's probably going to be something similar in the UK and globally. So this SUV is probably going to be one of the absolute worst cars you can buy from that regard...
Exactly And bushings !
Like all SUVs
And very costly!
A set of tires will run at least $2K.
When you first showed us the flank I thought you'd stoved the front door in!
I am really troubled by these LED headlights, drivers are constantly being dazzled with small changes undulations and acceleration effects, it seems that Type approval laboratory test environment fails to take account of real world conditions, there proliferation is hurting drivers eyes.
The Lotus Carlton was a much better and unfairly maligned car and and no were near the weight of the dull Eletre. EV's are harming the environment not saving it.
I read the title and thought the range was 900 miles- so clicked (as that would be impressive). Imagine my disappointment!
I had a deposit on one of these from the start of the ordering process. Fortunately I was able to see it and sit in the car at the Fully Charged Live show. The only thing I liked about the car was the yellow paint and the quality of the interior, not the gaudy gold fittings. Cancelled when I got home and bought an ex demo Taycan Turismo Turbo for £40,000 off and love it.
I stayed on the Eletre FB group and it has many software faults that will be fixed but why did Geely with their EV experience release it in that form? The fundamentals like poor efficiency won’t be fixed with an OTA though. Some love it but many have returned it and there are loads of cancelled orders on Autotrader. The next heavy depreciator and another reason I won’t buy a brand new EV at launch again.
You dodged a bullet there - this is Chinese owner (Geely) mandated garbage - a cash grab project.
I see the Rolls is back at last. As for the Lotus, I agree with others, this is not a Lotus. Its size and weight are so contrary to Colin Chapman's philosophy of lightness and nimbleness.
True, but Chapman had a number of RangeRovers as his daily run arounds so he was not opposed to the concept of the SUV.
@@grahamariss2111I don’t think his Rovers where heavy, probably under 1700kg… plus Rover back then were more utility focused not so much luxury items
💯
TBF they said exactly the same thing about the Cayenne. Now Porsche are an SUV maker that happens to make (great) sports cars.
@@grahamariss2111If it actually serves the purpose coming from its name (Sport UTILITY Vehicle) then I can get why Colin used it it, the car is honest.
Much like the Land Cruiser 70 series (which is still being made today), early Land Rovers/Range Rovers still follow the utilitarian purpose, it's a no nonsense vehicle.
Nowadays most modern SUVs just live on the road taking up space.
For me the biggest problem with cameras as opposed to optical mirrors is refocusing. In an optical mirror you look into the distance. With a camera and screen your eyes have to focus on the screen.
Hello Mr. Harry. Would you give your feedback if the Eltre tester you have driven without The Lotus Dynamic Handling pack is sufficient enough for us not to pay extra for it as a costly option?
I feel sorry for anyone who purchased one of these now that I have watched Harry`s review. I suspect we are looking a future depreciation record holder. I do wonder how many people actually think they are buying a Lotus.
Markets go up and down.
Just 12 months ago used cars cost more than the new ones, due to the long wait times on the new orders. Now there is a downturn, due to over supply and high interest rates on finance.
All it takes is a hike in the fuel price and EV’s suddenly become more desirable. Either way, the electric sector is the fastest growing in the industry.
@@SDK2006b Is that why new EV sales in the UK are down by 20% and second hand prices are tanking? Not forgetting the increasing cost of insurance due to spontaneously combusting EV fires and bans on ferries.
@@johnnyg1700 - think you have been watching too many anti-EV click bait videos.
1) According to the SMMT - the body reporting new UK car sales, Battery Electric vehicles sales year to date are up 27.5% in 2023, compared to 2022, and the year hasn’t finished yet. Look them up ! [Petrol up 12%, diesel down 15%]
2) EV’s are less likely to catch fire than fuel vehicles. Per 100k cars, insurance data shows a much higher % of fuel cars catch fire. The problem for EV’s is most car fires are reported as EV fires, whether they are an EV or not,. E.g. the Luton Airport carpark fire, which was started by a diesel RR.
BTW - All 2nd hand car prices are currently tanking. Take a look at any new ICE car above £80k from new and the 12 month used price is low.
I wouldn`t , theres so much money sloshing around in certain quarters that people will buy anything , the more expensive and useless the better just so they can show they can .
well, no. If you watched the video this car will cost you more than a ICE car lol@@SDK2006b
Those wheel well vents look like accident damage. Appalling bit of design.
I thought the same. They look wrong.
100%
Yes! I thought the front door was dented 😂
First thing I noticed that crease in the door panel below the A pillar looks like the result of a supermarket shunt with a shopping trolley. Appalling 🤢🤢🤢
Add one more person who thought it hit in the side. I see no reason for this car to exist. Sad day for Lotus.
there is glove box in the car. To open it, there is button in the middle console, between the physical climate controls.
Brilliant review, as an EV fan it's good to get honest assessments. Have had some Mercedes EQ range and they all were true to predicted range, looks like Lotus have a problem here?
We’re all massive Lotus fans, that is literally the worst piece of design we’ve ever seen it’s totally awful it looks like a Pontiac Aztec, just for balance the new Emira is totally perfect 🤩 So we’re not being horrible 😊
If I asked a generative AI to design a car I'd expect something a lot like this. It's rather naff.
That thing and the Emira are literally polar opposites. I love the Emira, I wouldn't be seen dead in one of those. Funny, I've just watched the video and already forgotten its name!😂
If this was badged as a geely, I still wouldn't like it, the fact that it's badged as a lotus is a travesty
You are 100% correct.
TBF they said exactly the same thing about the Cayenne. Now Porsche are an SUV maker that happens to make (great) sports cars.
@@EvoraGT430they said they're gonna stop making ICE cars tho
Last time I heard Porsche Cayenne was designed & manufactured in the EU and was not a dubious badged Chinese car.
Exactly @@richardstamper5630
Was the driver comfort heat on during 8 deg C runs I wonder?
Harry, I would be interested to hear a Lotus engineers take on the relatively poor range performance you experienced. A fascinating review thank you.
Thanks Harry for the review. This creation is unfortunately a waste of resources. Would have been much better for Lotus to focus on a lightweight electric sports car (that prioritizes lightweight over range)
They did.
Or even lightweight small family cars that drive well... Like an electric Peugeot 205... that could be cool...
Caterham Project V is basically what Lotus should be building.
@@Neojhun yeah 100%
Except Lotus is a 'for profit' company and that means you need to make SUVs.
I’ve seen one in the wild today. It’s huge, and extremely ugly. It’s sad to see they’ve put a lotus badge on this monstrosity.
Seen it as well and also find it shockingly big. I generally do not like SUV´s but I think it would look good when 10-20 % smaller. I guess Lotus needs to do this to have any chance to survive.
It is monstrous, but not ugly. I agree with Metcalfe on its looks.
I suppose we have to think of it as a cash generator for Lotus to continue dabbling with smaller, lighter cars at Hethel.
Geely seem to be one of the Chinese car makers best suited to own and help European brands to survive. Volvo has done well under Geely ownership. There is obviously a price to pay though and I think for Lotus the Eletre is the price. But at least we still have Lotus in business, making cars such as the Emira, which without Chinese investment would never have happened.
Nice review Dude.
As usual Harry, a nice video of yet another upmarket SUV. An Italian neighbour had a Maserati for several years and whilst he was happy with the car, he found after 8 or so years, spares became difficult and sometimes impossible to obtain. He will never buy another Maserati and has changed to German brands! Caveat emptor!
We all want Lotus to flourish after so many false starts, but really, this is totally against what that brand stands for. I fully understand the need to go into the SUV market for volume, but surely they could’ve come up with something better than this? if you took the badges off, this could be from any of a multitude of Chinese EV manufactures that are coming to Europe. iI’s not recognisably a lotus and it’s not for me, but is it for anyone?
and it's made in Wuhan! Is it really a Lotus?
I don't really know what to make of it. I sort of like it and hate it at the same time.
I'm looking at the price, a 100 grand for this, I was thinking 60! and that's the base model? insert a good old tim allen HUH?! here
like are they using this as a test car for that failed Evija sportscar they've been trying to sell to punters for 2 million bucks or something that they keep duke nukem forevering with the battery packs
as the battery tech advances, they go back and do it again, rinse and repeat, like those caterham people he had on with the EV abomination seem to have their head in the right place
dont make it crazy, get the best of what you can for the price and leave it be,
Me I'll just be in a 40 year old Opel GT laughing at all the EV's broken on the side of the road because the charging station got flooded again while I get 40 plus miles to the gallon
which is happening right now, also what happens if those cars get into deep water with the battery packs at the bottom
I'm 56 and have lived in five countries. A 150 mile range would be fine if it weren't my only car. Frankly I wouldn't even need that. A lot of people have two cars and this would make sense to be one of them.
But Lotus doesn't really have a recognisable styling language any more anyway. The Emira doesn't look any more like a Lotus that say a Ferrari to me. The Elise and Exige evolved massively over time (and the original Elise looked quite a bit like a Dino!) What design comes to mind when you think of Lotus? An Esprit? They haven't been made for nearly 20 years. I actually think for a 2.5tonne barn door it looks pretty good. If god squished it down with his hand flattening it in half it would actually be a pretty good looking 4 seater. So there is good styling there, is just you can't make a monstrosity like this look nice regardless of styling. People don't buy cars like this for the styling anyway, it's just all about image. In the UK people are not about to stop buying BMW and Audi SUV's to try and impress their neighbour with a Lotus. But in other countries where different brands are valued this will likely take its place alongside those vehicles in the market.
The sooner they bring in road tax based on weight the better! Insult to the memory of Colin Chapman!
Thanks for the review Harry, was considering an Emeya as a replacement for my Audi RS eTron GT and I'm led to believe the drive experience of the Emeya is much the same to the Eletre, just lower down. The range you experienced is an interesting point, I will say that there is a significant difference in efficiency even in Taycan / eTron GT between 8 degrees and 12 degrees; when it was cold / snow early December I've typically saw 2.2-2.5 mi/kWh but in the last few days when the temps have been 12 degrees plus it has been more like 2.9-3.2 mi/kWh, I would hazard a guess the same would apply to the Lotus.
Even at 2.0mi/kWh it still about half what I would be to fuel the RS7 I had at current super unleaded prices which the RS GT replaced and that is exclusively using public charging as I do not have a charger at home.
Those rearview side cameras seem a high price to pay in practicality for a bit of aero benefit. Range anxiety is going to be with us for a while in the BEV universe, I suspect. Keeping the charge between 15-80% doesn't leave a whole lot of capacity to play with. I like that silver color though.
I drove a Peugeot e208 recently. Felt quick despite 134bhp and extra weight of electrics etc. Despite the fact that I gave it the beans at every opportunity, I couldn’t make it do less than 4 miles per kilowatt. Driven sensibly it was closer to 5. It’s not even a dedicated EV platform.
To not even match the Taycan is bordering on criminal.
Plus, I think it’s pretty horrid to look at. Like the interior though.
e208 and all other small, nippy EVs are the way to go rather than monstrous 2.5-tonne pseudo offroader EV with 1000hp.
Grippy 315 section tyres and 2.6 tonnes is probably twice the rolling resistance of an e208. And given the size, quite possibly nearly twice the frontal area, too. Basic physics says it'll only do about half the miles per kWh, so I'm not sure why anyone is particularly surprised.
How the hell can that thing be £100000? Absolutely ridiculous.
What’s the wobble about as it goes down the road in the opening shot?
@harrysgarage
I was all enthusiastic when evs came out .. whole still retaining my exotic italian 12 cylinders.. but the more ive learned over time ..the range .. severely restricting range in winter conditions.. the fire risks.. . The planning if u have to go any distance.. the cost of charging out.. & finally the horrendous depreciation.. no one in their right mind would actually buy one.. lease.. pcp.. in a few years time with solid state batteries..super capacitors .. will render the current crop like Betamax in video.. dinosaurs.. I'll wait ..
I absolutely love your XJ12-C. It's just beautiful.
Good luck parking it in the standard size bay or garage. Oh, and 160 mph, that’s useful when all the UK roads are being strangled by the introduction of lower speed limits.
160 MPG for about 4 miles!
The car is for people with very big egos and even bigger garages
Lets hope Lotus get enough real world testing from owners/users and get some software updates out quickly to improve the range data algorithm and then a bit more time to get the software running the battery more efficiently. Would be good to know the CdA for this and Taycan to see what might be affecting range beyond drivetrain/software efficiency. In any case still feels like the right type of car if chasing ignorant consumer demand and the wrong type of car if anyone really cares deeply about change for the better of everyone and everything.
I think the whole gas vs EV thing is silly. Both have their purpose and pros and cons. We have a Jaguar I-PACE EV as our daily driver. This replaced a pretty good ICE daily (older panamera turbo), and I can honestly say the Jag is better in every single way. I don’t miss the panamera one bit. With the Jag, there’s no automatic transmission to get confused around town, never getting into a hot or cold car with preconditioning, there’s insane instant torque, the smoothness and refinement is unmatched (not only because no engine noise but also because the 1000 pound battery insulates you from road noise), use of space (small on the outside and big on the inside because no engine), low center of gravity, perfectly even weight distribution, and even though on paper the panamera was faster 0-60, in real life around town it’s not even close - the Jag would be gone before the panamera would even get into the right gear. We bought our Jag used CPO, and yes we’ve lost money on its value - but the same would have been true of the panamera or a Jaguar f-pace ICE suv. All luxury cars / daily driver values are dropping right now. EVs may be dropping quicker, but you also spend less on fuel and maintenance to make up for it. The only maintenance on our Jag in two years is a cabin air filter. Having said all of that, we also have two sports cars (manual transmission c7 corvette stingray and an older Mini Cooper JCW), and I have no desire for either of those to be electric. The whole point of those cars is a visceral, loud, connected experience with a manual transmission. I know there is a Boxster EV coming soon and I’m sure it’ll be great, but I have no interest, even as a current EV owner. Sports cars should be gas powered and manual IMO. So as I said, each has their purpose. I don’t see myself going back to gas for daily driver, and I don’t see myself ever giving up gas for sports cars.
90k?? reasonably priced???
I had an Elise S1 back in the nineties and it was fabulous. Lotus has lost the plot with this one sadly
I had an S1 too.. A bloody brilliant if a little flawed car.. Very fragile but soooooooo much fun to drive. Light Quick and Fun.
Losing the plot so much so that it's now Chinese!
Me too... and now I've got one of these. I love both, I'm also getting exceptional range from my Eletre, and cannot see hoe Harry got what he did, I'm comfortably getting 300 miles of range even in this weather.
Fascinating!!!!
It's a very new car ,i'm absolutely sure the customers will benefit from an update to the battery optimisation software.