Even though the Lotus Emira just came out, work is already being done on the all-electric vehicle that will finally replace it. The two-seat sports car, only known by its internal design code Type 135, will be aimed at the market segment with which the British company is most strongly associated. It’s an electric car that will replace Elan and Elise. In contrast to Lotus, which plans to design its SUVs and sedans in Germany and make them in China, the Type 135 is being developed in the United Kingdom and will be made at its current site in Hethel, first alongside the Emirates. The sports car will be the first to use Lotus’s new LEVA platform, which blends a bonded aluminum chassis with a “chest battery” placed under the passenger compartment instead of the floor. The motor and the control-arm back suspension are attached to a cast aluminum subframe. Sources at Lotus say that the Type 135 will have a single axial-flux engine that can produce up to 470 horsepower. Power will come from a battery pack that can hold up to 66.4 kWh. The LEVA platform will also be able to handle a more powerful twin-motor, all-wheel-drive setup, but it will only be offered on a larger, more expensive version. Getting louder and brighter Type 135 will be the most straightforward and lightest, typical of Lotus design. Even with the weight of the battery pack, Type 135 is projected to weigh less than 3300 pounds, making it heavier than its gasoline-powered predecessors. It will emerge as a car in 2025, and a roadster will follow soon after. The LEVA platform will also be used to build the electric sports car that Alpine, a Renault subsidiary, wants to sell in the United States. The former head of Ferrari’s research and development, Philippe Krief, will make that version so we may see the same core package differently. Since each British model name has to start with the letter E, the name could be right before you. In many Romance languages, Eleva is represented by putting LEVA and the word “to raise” together.
