Lotus Emeya recharged in 14 minutes (10% – 80%)

Motorists are used to a short time at the pump refuelling petrol or diesel in their car, be it a Rolls-Royce, a Nissan GT-R or a Perodua Kancil. So the thought of having to wait some time for the battery pack of an electric vehicle to be recharged can be discouraging, especially if you want it to be almost fully charged.

With battery and charging technology constantly advancing, the times are shortening but still do not match filling liquid fuel. To show how much reduction the most advanced technologies available can achieve, Lotus has reported a record-breaking charging time of 14 minutes from 10% to 80% with its Emeya hyper GT.

The fully electric Emeya was No.1 when tested against other global EVs such as the Mercedes-Benz  EQS, BMW i7, Tesla Model Y, Genesis G80, Xpeng G9, Hyundai IONIQ 6, Nio ET5 and BYD Atto 3. This was validated by global consulting firm P3, who recently published their independent 2023 P3 Charging Index for Asia.

The ‘fine print’: the quick charging time was achieved at a public charger with a DC power supply of 400 kW (600A capable) which, it should be noted, is not readily available everywhere. Power supplies vary at different stations and charging times are obviously related to how powerful the supply is.

The P3 report found that the Emeya can reach a peak charging power of 402 kW, resulting in an average charging power of 331 kW, between 10% and 80% battery state of charge. This was higher compared to the peak charge of the other electric vehicles tested. In addition, combined with a WLTC energy consumption of 18.7 kWh/100 kms, the Emeya can gain up to 310 kms of range in 10 minutes.

To achieve the fast-charging capabilities, Lotus uses a cell-to-back battery structure, which means that 20% more cells can be packaged in the same space, compared to a standard module architecture. The Emeya also uses a new cooling system architecture that is designed to improve the thermal performance and efficiency of the battery.

Lotus is future proofing its technology and has designed its charging solutions to be ready for cars that have a state-of-the-art 800V charging system, such as the Emeya, as well as the Eletre. This technology is where the industry is accelerating towards in order to unlock hyper power charging speeds and greater charging efficiency.

First look at the Lotus Emeya hyper-GT