• The Lotus Emeya electric car sets a new mark for a production car, as it can be charged from 10 to 80 percent in just 14 minutes.
Those hesitant to make the jump to EVs often mention the difficulty of accessing a charging network. Even more often, they cite the time it takes to recharge the vehicle.
Manufacturers are working hard to reduce charging times, and those times are indeed slowly dropping thanks to technological advances.
This week, a test carried out by the P3 firm got some attention. P3 specializes in comparing the real charging time of electric vehicles currently on the market.
The test demonstrated that the new Lotus Emeya can be charged from 10 to 80% in just 14 minutes, which happens to be a new record for a production car.
Deliveries of the Emeya began this past March on the Chinese market.
It’s worth mentioning that the rapid charge was carried out on a 400-kW terminal. The exercise showed that a peak of 402 kW had been reached, and that the average had been 331 kW.
None of the other vehicles included in this test clocked that time. P3 also tested the Mercedes-Benz EQS, BMW i7, Tesla Model Y, Genesis G80, Xpeng G9, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Nio ET5 and BYD Atto 3.
The Porsche Taycan, the Emeya's most serious rival, was not part of the exercise. Its charging capacity can reach 320 kW, so it could well have been the Lotus EV’s closest competitor in the test.
To handle high charging speeds, the Lotus Emeya features an 800-volt architecture and a specially designed cooling system for the battery. That system features a “cell to cell” design, which contains, says Lotus, 20-percent more cells than a typical battery of the same format.
The Emeya's battery size is 102 kWh and the most powerful version of the car develops 905 hp. Due to its relatively light weight for an EV - a Lotus trademark – the car can speed form a stop to 100 km/h in 2.8 seconds.
Those 400-kW chargers used for the test are not exactly common in North America, at least not yet. In Quebec, there is the odd 500-kW station, and 350-kW stations are increasingly common. During a visit to the General Motors winter research center last year, in Kapuskasing, Ontario, we were shown a 400-kW terminal.
In time, these higher-capacity charging stations will become the norm, which will allow faster charging times.
The Lotus Emeya is not yet available in North America, but the Eletre SUV will be later this year. On one of Lotus' 45- kW chargers, the company says that model can be charged from 10 to 80 percent in just 20 minutes. The firm has installed some of those chargers in China, and it plans to deploy others in certain markets.