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New Lotus gets 1200KM range
About this episode
Explore Lotus's groundbreaking hybrid technology with the new Samira and Electra models, boasting up to 1200 km combined range and 350 km pure electric range, featuring a 900V architecture and ultra-fast charging capabilities. Discover BYD's Denza Z9 GT introducing flash charging that can reach 70% in five minutes, even in extreme cold. Skoda's strong electric growth and Polestar's transparent lifecycle emissions reporting highlight the evolving EV landscape. The episode dives into advanced battery tech, charging infrastructure, and the push for sustainable, high-performance electric vehicles.
Topics:
lotus hybrid technology
electric vehicle range
ultra-fast charging
byd flash charging
skoda electric growth
polestar lifecycle emissions
900 volt architecture
battery technology
charging infrastructure
sustainable ev materials
Featuring the New Hybrid Lotus and the incredible Denza Z9GT from BYD which can charge in 5 minutes.
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Lotus Samira
"this is the EMEA The new Lotus Samira, British mid-engine track-tuned, it's civilized, ..."
Car
Eletre Lotus Electra
"It's gonna be called the Lotus Electra delivers up to 350 kilometers of pure electric dr..."
Car
Tesla Roadster
"... I got anywhere near Hethel was to see the Tesla Roadster, which was on its UK launch in 2007 or 2006."
Car
Lotus Elise
"... to see the vehicle and it looked exactly like an Elise at the time because it was based on the Elise. L..."
Car
Dodge Charger
"...durability and efficiency of both the car and the charger. Maybe it helped it because it was warm."
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Chevrolet Volt
"The car has a state of the art 800 volt charging system. Many cars are coming out with a..."
Select text to request an explanation
The new Lotus Samira, British mid-engine track-tuned, it's civilized, but under that sleek body,
visceral,
analog. This is what happens when a supercar gets its act together.
But hold on, there won't be Lotus if we stop there.
It's got space for two trunk for gym bags and a glovebox full of excuses, and it doesn't scream at you
unless you ask it to. It's the perfect daily for drivers.
So, are you driver or what?
Lotus have brought out a
brand new
car that is capable of
Hang on, let me just add it to the stage. We'll take that off.
It's gonna be called the
Lotus Electra delivers up to 350 kilometers of pure electric driving freedom with a 70 kilowatt-hour battery.
Okay, so Lotus,
according to their press release, have announced a landmark moment in its electrification strategy.
The introduction of Europe's first and only hybrid technology capable of delivering
950 to 2 p.m. Compared with a driving range exceeding 1200 kilometers and up to 350 kilometers of pure electric range.
This is interesting because
Lotus have been doing a lot with electric cars recently, having gone from a very very firm kind of V6 strategy,
which is lovely and those and those
those V6 and turbocharged engines to a very strong electric car strategy.
This is a hybrid, but it gets tons and tons of range, which is interesting. So, I am
I wanted to talk to you about it a little bit.
It's going to be an ex-hybrid system, which made its debut in China.
And it serves as the reference prototype for the technology.
If you can get
350 kilometers of pure electric range out of a vehicle like this and then get a hybrid as well,
you're going to be laughing. There's a lot of
interesting stuff around this car.
The
ex-hybrid system,
they haven't given very much information at the moment, so let me tell you what they have said.
The car's ex-hybrid system is an exceptionally strong 150 kilowatt generator capable of producing up to
25 kilowatts per hour in suitable conditions. It can replenish the battery on the move,
sustain charge during cruising, and support sudden power demands, helping keep performance consistent on longer journeys.
It's got multi-mode electric first powertrain with six operating scenarios
adapting to speed, state of charge and drive demand,
BEV at all-wheel drive, parallel-wheel drive, idle charging, series discharging, series power generation, parallel power generation.
These are the next generation of plug-in hybrid EVs for all those people that are slightly too worried about having a battery EV
that may not be able to get
charging at home
or anything else. They can switch to a car like this
even around, so the reference platform features front and rear PMSM motors for a combined system output of up to 700 kilowatts.
It's enabling 0-100 in 3.3 seconds, even around 20% battery state of charge the system can deliver up to
550 kilowatts supporting demand scenarios such as mountain pass overtakes.
The platform supports ultra-fast charging from 20% to 80% in approximately nine minutes.
Now, we haven't seen this on any kind of
plug-in hybrid EV so far. Maybe the Chinese ones are coming through that can do similar things, but this is the first time I'm seeing it.
And
it uses a 900 volt architecture
complimented by four levels of regenerative braking to recoup energy in everyday driving.
Working together, battery and fuel unlock a combined driving range well above 1200 kilometers.
The EV only range is up to 350 kilometers allowing most daily journeys to be completed in full electric mode.
That sounds pretty good if you live in a city, although it is pretty big for a city car.
The system is underpinned by a 70 kilowatt hour battery and a 52 litre fuel tank.
It's going to be nice.
Haven't they done some interesting stuff around these
these Lotus vehicles? They're so expensive. That's the only problem with them, but they look pretty good.
What else have we got? 48 active anti-roll bar delivering up to 1400 newton meters with a 10 second response and target roll angle of
less than 1.5 g.
Active rear spoiler with four positions. They're EMBO's six piston front brakes.
Dual chamber air suspension and the Lotus developed tyres tuned for wet,
hesion and high speed stability to harness the platform up to 952 ps potential.
It's quite a car and I look forward to seeing it. Can you imagine 150 kilowatts for continuous high performance?
All of the core hybrid system is an exceptionally strong 150 kilowatt generator
producing up to 25 kilowatts per hour in suitable conditions.
It can replenish the battery on the move, stay in charge during cruising and support sudden power demands,
helping keep performance consistent on longer journeys.
This is Chinese technology tied into Lotus. The first time
I got anywhere near Hethel was to see the Tesla Roadster, which was on its UK launch
in 2007 or 2006.
And the Roadster had been built at Hethel and they were they were showing it in a in a kind of
place somewhere in Norwich and I went up to see the vehicle and it looked exactly like an Elise at the time because it was based on the Elise.
Lotus
have been at the forefront of tech battery technology because of their involvement. I think with early Tesla stuff since the early days
but they've really come to the fore with this kind of this kind of technology. I hope they can build
a smaller city car because it'd be amazing to have a car that was just smaller.
You can see that this car is
is as big. It's another kind of large SUV type vehicle and
that's that's the problem.
I do think I'm just going to take this off the stage and come back to you guys the
battery. The charging technology in Lotus has been amazing and a lot of the Lotus vehicles have been able to charge at very high speed.
So
this is the EMEA
and
it shows a charging power of
443 kilowatts, which set a new record. This was back in November last year
but they'd beaten their own record at the fastest charging electric vehicles using the public charging network.
It uses
Lotus Ultrafast 450 kilowatt DC charger.
The car was able to maximize nearly full capacity of the charger reaching a peak charging power
of 443 kilowatts enabling it to charge from 10 percent to 80 percent in just 13 minutes 35 seconds.
The race is on for fast charging.
It's really interesting
that this was
achieved in extensive heat conditions in the region, high reliability, durability and efficiency of both the car and the charger.
Maybe it helped it because it was warm.
Batteries do much better in hot hot weather.
Lotus is committed to future proofing its electric cars.
So as the charging infrastructure develops its drivers have the confidence that their vehicles will continue to remain excellent for efficiency and capability.
The MEA features
full electric
It features a cell-to-pack
battery structure, which means that 20 percent more cells can be packaged in the same space compared to a standard module architecture.
It also uses a new cooling system architecture that is designed to improve the thermal performance and efficiency of the battery.
The car has a state of the art 800 volt charging system.
Many cars are coming out with an 800 volt architecture now,
which is designed to deliver rapid charging and greater efficiency for drivers no matter what charger they are using.
This technology is also featured in the latest Electra, the company's hyper SUV.
Lotus's ambition is to make it easier than ever to own an EV by providing drivers with the confidence to complete long-distance journeys and go wherever they need.
With a WLTC energy consumption down to 18.7 kilowatt hours per 100 kilometers,
EMEA delivers up to 310 kilometers of range in 10 minutes.
Additionally, the EMEA 2026 model features a WTLP range of up to
379 miles. The range is getting better on these pure electrics as well. That's 610 kilometers, according to them.
Lotus is delivering a fully integrated charging ecosystem,
creating a seamless charging experience with the Lotus cars app and Lotus Hyper OS, the award-winning in-car infotainment system in the Electra and the EMEA.
It uses intelligent EV routes to help drivers locate nearby public chargers, while most people do that,
and it features a reduced range anxiety and can significantly cut travel times.
The system can also suggest alternative routes based on the driver's real-time battery consumption. Will it prep the battery
for fast charging on the way? So do you put a charger in and it will warm the battery? A lot of these electric cars
now need to be pre-warned that they're going to be taking fast DC charging. So you actually tell the battery
about 10, at least 10 minutes before you arrive at a fast charger that you are going to be plugging it into a DC
super fast charger, so the vehicle can
absolutely
maximize its charging range, because there ain't going to be many places you're going to be getting
443 kilowatt charging off a vehicle like that.
Lotus has begun rolling out its ultra-fast 450 kilowatt DC charger in Europe, starting in Germany and followed by other European markets in the near future.
It's their first electric hyper GT, which set a new benchmark for how Lotus drives and feels by combining the company's 75-year expertise in engineering and design
for the latest advanced innovations.
It brings drivers to an electric car that is exciting to drive and performs exceptionally.
That's pretty quick.
How are the how are the networks going to be able to do this? There's megawatt charging coming out everywhere,
but this and the new hybrid car that they've built is kind of doing a really good job of getting somewhere between
let me put that one back up there, the
it's getting somewhere between what the range that we have come to know and love from petrol vehicles
to having a vehicle that will do
absolutely miles and miles and miles and actually takes
understands the charging capabilities and how we move. So having 350 kilometers of electric pure electric range is
amazing before you even need to kick in the hybrid system on a vehicle like this.
I'm pretty tempted by a public, by a PHEV public, a plug-in hybrid EV because I don't have off street parking
much as I'd like to have it and
a lot of people don't and a vehicle like this will get around a lot of that kind of potential worry.
Imagine being able to use that. If it was smaller, it would have even more range.
So Lotus, build a car that is smaller than this and give it even more range and use some of the architecture, the 900-volt architecture
for something like this
would be amazing.
Everyone
keep an eye out for that car. It's going to be really good and I love what Lotus have done.
There's one part around the corner from me. I see it all the time and it's a great looking car. So
nice. Okay. Next up, Denza GT.
Talking about interesting cars, let me tell you a little bit about this one.
Okay.
Start Europe. It's Flash, Europe's flash charging revolution in April. Ready in five, full in nine, cold add three.
A breakthrough in EV charging arrives.
That's ready in five, full in nine, cold add three.
This car's coming to Europe on the eighth of April and it will offer flash charging. It's BYD's
latest blade battery 2.0.
Now, talking about charging, this car is incredible. Flash charging at up to 1500 kilowatt delivers a 10 to 70% charge in only five minutes.
A 10 to 90% refill in just nine minutes and 20% to 97% in 12 minutes, even in minus 30 Celsius.
This is pretty amazing.
They're proud to confirm that its stunning Z9 GT flagship will introduce game changing, flash charging
and the unique principle of ready in five, full in nine, cold add three to European customers
when it is officially launched at an event at Paris's Palais Garnier Opera House on the eighth of April.
Introduced by BYD Chairman, it's weeks away from a global rollout.
Flash charging is designed to break down the final barriers for those customers still resisting a switch to zero emissions mobility.
It harnesses breakthroughs in two key areas.
The latest version of BYD's own charging station capable of up to 1500 kilowatts of charging power
using a Chinese market connector, they say, through a single cable and the second generation of the company's trademark blade battery.
It retains the advantages of its lithium ion phosphate chemistry and uses gains in ion transport to have not only increased energy
density, but also the ability to recharge faster at a wider range of temperatures and with reduced levels of degradation.
In practical terms, flash charging brings the principle of ready in five, full in nine, cold add three
based on its standard recharging times.
Flash charging can take the battery from 10 to 70% in just five minutes
ready for several hundred kilometers more driving and from 10 to 97% full in effect in just nine minutes
and even in conditions as cold as minus 30 Celsius, which can drastically reduce charging speeds
It can replenish from 20% to 97% in just 12 minutes, which is the add three
Now the z9 gt is ready to bring these breakthroughs to its customers in Europe in only a few weeks time
featuring european influence design an e3 platform that is bespoke to the denser brand
The shooting break grand Torah already represents a unique proposition for premium customers
The inclusion of flash charging will give the z9 gt a further technological advantage
Particularly when coupled with the extensive range offered by its 122 kilowatt hour blade battery
Up to 800 kilometers in the rear wheel driven addition
And denders european flagship makes no compromises on performance either
The triple motor version of the all-electric model has over 960 p.s
ensuring a naught to 100 kilometers
of acceleration time of less than three seconds
That's quite a car, isn't it?
Inside will be the verse european vehicle to offer an opera house entertainment experience
So while you're super fast charging, how quickly can you get an opera down?
nine minutes
I don't think so that they tend to be a bit longer than that, but
interesting that you can have a full opera once you are back on the road
um
Because it's been partnered with a french audio specialist called diavelay never heard of them, but they must be good
They use a bespoke speaker setup in dolby atmos immersive audio technology to play sounds precisely around the cabin
we do quite a lot of full audio dolby mixes for our commercials and films when we make them and
Some of the setups are like for 40 speakers. So
This this is coming to cars and it's going to be incredible
What you traditionally would have got in a cinema will be available in a vehicle at some point, I think and it does sound incredible that stuff
um
Delivering greater detail clarity and sound separation the resulting immersion unlocks new levels of emotion
And turns z9 gt into an entertainment space that brings consumers closer to the content they love
Well, we make content like that all the time and it is a lot about sound some of the greatest directors that I've worked with
I've always said sound is 51 of any film
And
There's a truth in it. It's so much time needs to be spent on making sound work and making it good
um
The
The vice president said the introduction of the zenza denser z9 gt in europe marks a very important milestone for our brand
It's the true spirit of denser where advanced technology beautiful design emotional driving come together
It's the perfect choice to introduce the principle of ready in five cold
The ability to add hundreds of kilometers range in just five minutes even extremely low temperatures
Means the z9 gt perfectly reflects our vision for denser technology
Thousands of flash charging stations have already been introduced in china
And byd has committed to a global rollout that will include an initial wave of flash chargers in europe
Further details will be revealed in due course. I'm really interested to see these further details because this is basically taking on the supercharger network
What's the charging going to cost?
How are the how is the uk grid going to deal with?
megawatt charging or 1.5 megawatt charging going forwards for a vehicle like this
I'm really interested to see what what byd come up with and how they make it work
Uh, okay, so let's
Abba we've already played the film. I'm going to um go and into talk about let's get get that down
I'm going to go on and talk a bit a little bit about um
What uh, is going on with?
Very busy
They've got a lot of new cars
And they're really going through
I'm going to turn that right down
I don't know why they play pumping music tracks through everything
It's not going to make us the viewer more excited about the vehicle or maybe it does some of these scoders look good and um
I uh, I think that there's they're bringing out a really interesting range
So let me just read to you a little bit about what they're saying about their cars
They've had record financial results scoda auto group achieved an all-time high revenue of 30.1 billion
I'm an operating profit of 2.5 billion euros return on sales at 8.3 percent
They've delivered a million and 43
900 that one million and 43,900 vehicles delivered worldwide up 12.7 percent
And they've had a strong position in europe
Let me just go back to the main screen
and
Take that off because I'm just getting used to this stuff as I do this more guys. I'll get better at it
Okay, just bear with me, but I'm learning. Um, okay
Electrified models accounted for 25.7 percent of deliveries for scoda in europe record deliverers in India
They're really going for india start production in vietnam broader presence across a cn and the middle east
They're going to double their fully electric lineup with the new peak and pyak scoda vehicles
in
2026
So a lot of vehicles this week have been talking about their strong range and
their
how they are
Delivering exceptional results financially. I've seen bmw have done that this week and
And a few others i've seen cooper had been making quite big claims on it as well
So they're going for it, but scoda particularly who always make great cars, you know people people like them
Have a doubling their fully electric portfolio with these new models. I think that's going to be interesting
To find out what what they're going to be doing and they talk a lot about the challenging business environment
But building a solid foundation
for the future
I wonder what they're going to do about their charging networks or whether they're going to be working closely with
Charging networks here in the uk
You know byd are building out their own mega watt plus charging networks by the looks of it. That's coming to europe
These cars are going to be relying much more on traditional charging and where we are with
charging networks and
The high-speed charging dc charging networks that are available
They doubled deliveries year on year to 280,700 vehicles in
In europe and the l-rock was the second best battery electric vehicle in europe last year
They had 174,900 battery electric and 48,800 plug-in hybrid e v's
So the battery electrics are way ahead of the plug-in hybrid e v's which is interesting
b v's and ph e v's accounted for 25.7 of all scoda deliveries meaning one in four vehicles was sold with a plug
The l-rock became the second best selling electric car in europe topped the bv rankings in the check republic
Denmark the netherlands and slavakia
While placing in the top three in germany austria and switzerland all of these companies these countries
Are beginning to get a pretty decent dc charging network that stretch across the country
So this is making sense that people are being able to have the confidence to start building out these vehicles
and and and and buying these pure battery electrics, especially with
individual countries
Tax incentives for buying them
scoda will unveil the new fully electric epic followed by the seven-seater
Piat doubling the brand's all electric portfolio in 2026 by adding these two models scoda will round off its electric lineup at both ends
And make electric mobility more accessible and attractive new customer groups
Well done scoda keep going. I'm impressed that you have embraced electric
Uh technology in such a way pure battery e v as well. So it's good and you're doing well with
Um with where these cars are being sold. So
That's really good
Last one
I want to talk about poll star when we started poll star
We were inspired by other industries and how they were open about their environmental impact
Even though all cars have a carbon footprint. The car industry wasn't so open
We didn't like that. We wanted to be clear about the impact of our cars
Otherwise, how would anybody know? So from the start our answer has been to tell you everything
Okay, not everything because there's stuff you already know
You know that electric cars have no tailpipe emissions
And that an electric car's biggest environmental impact comes from the way it's made not how it's used
Our mission is to measure follow-up and work continuously to reduce that impact
We map and share emissions data from the extraction of raw materials to measuring high steel
Aluminium and battery materials are refined and transported. It's really good. I've done some really good manufacturing processes
All the way down to the chemicals and paints and adhesives
We monitor the energy sources and consumption of factories and suppliers
We continue to calculate the impact from when the car leaves the factory to the end of its life
Right down to the impact of changing the rubber on a single windscreen wiper
We publish all information in a life cycle assessment
Every poll star has one
Anyone can read it
We know each car's climate impact and we know how to keep reducing it
But most importantly
So do you
So they've come up with a few a full lifestyle assessment for their vehicles
Let's just let me just read some of this a second and just
Tell you what they're saying
because
I think it's interesting that a company can make claims on its environmental data
Um
and are they relating this to their full scope emissions from
Well to wheel as such or not well to wheel anymore. So what they said is that
They've produced a full lifestyle cycle assessment for all models with publicly available assessments covering everything
They're the first oem to publish the full carbon footprint of every vehicle in its lineup giving customers greater transparency
The cradle to gate carbon footprint better than well to wheel
Of poll star five is 23.8 tons of co2 covering emissions from raw material extraction
Through production and delivery to the customer
They haven't talked about ethical solutions and mining and cobalt and what's going on with
Indonesia and rainforest destruction. They kind of have avoided that they've talked about materials and
By what i've seen i might i might be wrong as i haven't looked at the report in great detail
But i'd be interested to hear more about where their emissions occur at what stage of each life cycle and what the impact is on
local communities and rainforest destruction and so on because we have read a lot about this for materials and
Um, particularly refinement for battery materials when they're produced four vehicles
I saw in a report that misades had come out on top in the last couple of years for
They're there. What do they call it cradle to i like that. I like that expression whatever it was
Cradle to gate nice. I'll start using that one
innovative materials in the car's interior further reduce the environmental impact of full star five natural fiber composites develop with
B comp use flax based ampelitex a biobased alternative to carbon fiber that uses 50 less fossil based material
And can be up to 40 lighter than conventional plastic composites
Recycle materials are also used on the car pits
And they've got front luggage compartment and everything. I do like pole stars. They're really nice
um, the Polestar five
Choosing a more sustainable car does not require a compromise on performance
the four door gt offers up to
884 horsepower and
A thousand and 15 newton meters of torque ranges up to 678 kilometers
With an 800 volted
Electrical architecture and 350 kilowatt dc charging capability
Charging for 10 to 80 percent can be completed in as little as 22 minutes
Amazing that's pretty that's pretty quick and Polestar are doing a good job on charging
If you join our charging club, by the way, we can get you very very good rates on charging
so keep an eye on that
And uh, and what Polestar are doing with with charging on those
um
What chart what lease deals Polestar have available and the charging prices across the country
Which we're monitoring continually and sending out to our club members. So please do join up if you get a chance
We're sending out lots of information on public charging networks because a lot of us can't charge at home
So we're looking for fast charging capabilities everywhere. Um, we get the opportunity to
uh
use public charging whether that's ac or dc and
Cars like this with a 900 volt 800 volt architecture are getting super fast at charging
So maybe we won't even need ac charging at some point
But these cars are steep and they're expensive at this stage and most people want to buy
decent
electric cars with good battery life and um
And be able to rely on that battery knowing that it's going to be okay
The as the charging network gets faster for everyone
There will be
More opportunities to own electric cars, but the prices need to come down. These are super luxury cars at the moment
But it looks nice. I like the look at the Polestar 5. It's going to be a good car
I'll be looking out for information on it. I'm going to start uh talking more about
um
New releases because I'm interested in what's going on. There's so much happening in um in
Evie architecture range range blade to batteries all that kind of stuff. So um, let's uh
Let's keep this this is going to roll out as a podcast more than a uh more more than a particular
Live although I want to do this in a live format as I start to build audience because you guys can then come back with
questions or conversations around the footage that you're seeing so um,
So let's put this out there. Let's look at Polestar. Um, I'll try and come back next week
Or I'm planning to come back next week with more
Uh new releases on vehicles and what's happening out there
In the public until then have a great week and thank you very much
For tuning in and I will speak to you soon. Thanks a lot. See ya
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