This 900bhp Lotus Emeya has Bugatti specs, but carrying passengers reveals a problem
A well-engineered electric performance car can be an impressive thing to drive but carrying passengers is very different from a petrol-powered equivalent
With zero physical ties back to Lotus models of the past, I wasn’t expecting much from the all-electric Emeya saloon. It has specs on paper not far from that of a Bugatti Veyron but we all know numbers aren’t everything. After a few miles behind the wheel, however, it soon became apparent this was a car engineered to a very high standard to put it in line with the best in the market. The major frustration came when I invited passengers on board.
Regardless of your position on the Emeya’s unusual design, it gets plenty of attention. Whether it be friends, family or members of the public, nobody is mistaking this for an ordinary runabout, which is something that can’t be said for the majority of EVs. It’s striking on the inside too, with a contemporary design, strong build quality and tactile, high-end materials, so first impressions from passengers are good.
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The frustrations begin when you set off, as engaging drive and pulling away is so silent and seamless that there’s not so much as a pause in conversion. It’s a non-event. In a combustion car of equivalent output this would be a theatrical moment for those inside and out, with a combustion cacophony filling the cabin to serve as a reminder of its performance status. Nevertheless, some do prefer the silence of an EV and purchase them for that very reason, so you can forgive it for that – surely the performance it has to offer is enough to win them over instead?
Not so much. Of course there will be some people that thrive in the violent instantaneous torque of a 900bhp, 726lb ft electric car, but in my experience, there are very few of them. Merely rolling into the throttle up to the speed limit to provide a sense of the limitless torque on offer promptly has the grab handles in use, so the thought of unlocking all of its performance simply feels inappropriate.
In a theatrical V8-powered combustion car that creates sensory drama at well under the speed limit, and well within the bounds of normal longitudinal g-force tolerances, unlocking all of its performance is entirely unnecessary if your aim is to demonstrate its character. In an EV such as the Lotus Emeya, however, neck-snapping acceleration is the most obvious asset it has to show.
More EVs are emerging with virtual gear-change technology and increasingly convincing synthetic sounds, which go some way to solving this problem, but for the cars without this you might often find keen passengers more uncomfortable with a quick EV than impressed.
