Lotus Type 135: Architecture and specs
The Type 135 might be constructed across the devoted Project LEVA (Lightweight Electric Vehicle Architecture) construction that was set to additionally underpin the Alpine A110 successor.
The new E-Sports platform, which incorportates LEVA, will give it a mid-engined-style format, most probably with the battery pack stacked in the course of the automobile, reasonably than beneath the ground, as is common for EVs. That will enable the Porsche Boxster rival to take a seat decrease and guarantee weight distribution is extra in step with its remit.
The E-Sports platform has but to be revealed in its entirety, however the LEVA ingredient is alleged to be 37% lighter than the equal construction utilized by the combustion-engined Emira sports activities automobile.
It has been designed from the bottom as much as compensate for the added weight of an electrical powertrain and with a view to replicating the standard dynamic traits of earlier Lotus fashions.
The batteries can both be stacked vertically behind the seats, in a format harking back to a traditional mid-engined format, or organized beneath the ground in longer-wheelbase automobiles with rear seats.
The LEVA unit might be mated to a bulkhead and entrance finish fully unrelated to these utilized by the Emira, however managing director Matt Windle beforehand mentioned he was eager for Lotus’s trademark dynamic agility to be carried over to the brand new fashions.
“It’s our DNA: dynamics, aerodynamics, lightweighting – that’s what we do on all our products,” Windle advised Autocar on the LEVA’s unveiling. “We still want these to be Lotus products. They are going to have a different propulsion system but that system comes with benefits as well: instant torque, easier cooling and better packaging, so the first sports car [the Type 135] will have a lot of storage and packaging benefits as well.”
The E-Sports structure will host single- and twin-motor powertrains ranging in output from 469bhp to 872bhp. This means the entry-level sports activities automobile will pack almost double the facility of even essentially the most highly effective iteration of the Elise, and extra highly effective variations may fill the hole left by the extra track-focused Exige.