Stunning Lotus concept EV turns the chassis into its primary outer design element

Why use extra material to make a metal or carbon fiber body for your car, when your chassis can BE your car’s body instead? Designer Maitreya Dhanak’s absolutely wild Lotus Evanora Concept treats the chassis as a design element, resulting in a speedster that’s both visually and physically lightweight. Not to mention the fact that it looks like an exoskeletal beast!

Christened ‘Evanora’ or Greek for ‘gift from the gods’, Dhanak’s concept falls in line with Lotus’ tradition of naming their vehicles beginning with the letter E. Dhanak’s approach towards designing the car deviates from the standard practice of taking a top-down approach. While most car designers have an internal framework pretty much ready, they always start with the outside and work their way in. Dhanak, on the other hand, designed an outer structure to complement the inner structure. The skeletal bodywork you see was designed to clad just the chassis, resulting in an aesthetic that’s quite literally as minimal as it gets. The results speak for themselves – since the body (made from carbon fiber) covers just the chassis and nothing else, it uses lesser material, and naturally creates pockets for air-flow, creating a car that’s light and airy both in perception and in reality!

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This Spiderman worthy Lotus supercar is inspired by the bone structure found in nature!

Nature is our best inspiration for creating modern designs and this project is no different. Taking a deep inspiration from the basic skeletal of bone, that uses the bare minimum building elements while staying structurally strong, this barebones concept racing sportscar gives a glimpse of the brand’s future – or what it could be. The brainchild of industrial designer Ondrej Hlavenka from Munich, Germany, the supercar concept has a unique form factor focused on performance via lightweight aesthetics due to removal of mass where it’s not needed. Ondrej is heavily inspired by the Ross Lovegrove philosophy of incorporating minimum mass – makes perfect sense for performance cars of today and the future.

The well-balanced layout of the supercar (assuming by its aerodynamic aesthetics) sans the full-body panel structure reduces the drag, maintaining the aerodynamics for achieving top speeds in a closely contested race. Of course, the dynamics could only be ascertained after a wind tunnel test, but on paper, it looks to be made for high-speed sprints on a track like the Nürburgring. The drivetrain has also got be an electric one due to the constricted space dominated by the minimal bone structure.

By the looks of things, the concept should be dubbed as Lotus Web, since it resembles a spider web and maybe Spiderman would want to have his own sexy ride for once. Truly the concept is an interpretation of how nature meets technology with balanced performance and aesthetics. One should also not count out the sync of knowledge and intuitive design – given that Ondrej has worked at Bugatti!

Designer: Ondrej Hlavenka

Lotus’ EV supercar hints at the automaker’s future

Lotus is known for its light, nimble and fast cars. But it's been a few years since they introduced an updated vehicle. 2017, to be exact (with the Evora). But Lotus is back with a solid investment, the Evija electric supercar, and a plan to deliver...

Meet Lotus Evija, the world’s lightest, most powerful electric hypercar ever made

The first car to be unveiled by the British automobile-maker since it got acquired by China-based Geely, the Evija is reassurance that all is well at Lotus. Pronounced E-vee-ya, the car comes with a stunning spec sheet, price tag, and a design to match. The car features an all-carbon-fiber single-piece chassis with a spectacularly organic body. Designed for performance, the Evija comes with active ergonomics in the form of an elevating rear spoiler, an F1-style Drag Reduction System (DRS), and even ditches the rear-view mirrors for retracting camera modules that go flush against the body when pulled in.

When push comes to shove, the Evija is every bit deserving of the hypercar tag. It packs 4-wheel electric powertrain with a collective 1972 horsepower. The car boasts of a top speed of 200 mph and an acceleration of 0-60 in less than three seconds. Its electric-powered drive gives it a whopping range of 250 miles on a single charge (an impressive number for a hypercar), and the Evija’s battery can be charged to 80% in all of 18 minutes. That number should be halved to just 9 minutes when 800 kWh charging is made readily available, say the guys at Lotus.

The British-built car does come with other exciting features too, like laser headlights that illuminate the road, butterfly doors (but obvious), and a perpetual cloud-connection to facilitate smooth OTA updates as well as keep track of car and drive information. The insides are equally mesmerizing, with Alcantara fabric on the seats as well as on the impressive F1-style steering wheel. The Evija even features a center console with a drool-worthy obsidian-black touchscreen surface with an eye-catching honeycomb pattern. The Evija is all set for a production run in 2020, and is limited to just 130 units… which makes sense, given that nor everyone can spring for its $1.86 million price tag!

Designer: Lotus