Lotus Eletre – Owners Review, First Few Weeks

If you didn’t know already, as part of the DSG Finance Group, Magnitude is set on reducing our environmental impact. Our fleet of over 50 EVs across the group is a huge part of this reduction in emissions, with the large majority being Teslas of some variety. Our Head of Prestige, Tim Marlow was no different, having driven a Tesla Model X for the past 3 years as his company car.

But in October things changed, for both Tim and DSG CEO Richard Hoggart, swapping out their Tesla Model X and BMW iX respectively for two brand new Lotus Eletre! Check out our Instagram for a look at handover day here.

Of course, new cars are always exciting, but this swap is quite a big one in the EV space, with Tesla’s huge charging network being such a huge part of the appeal of their cars, switching to a relative unknown in the new Lotus Eletre was going to pose a few questions around the manufacturer’s new direction, and EV ownership in general after switching to the regular grid away from Tesla’s huge network.

So, what’s the Eletre like?

Styling

After the success that was the Emira, you just know that Lotus have what it takes to make a beautiful car. The Eletre is no different, yes SUVs will always divide opinions with some, but Lotus’s first SUV certainly looks the part, with sharp, angular lines and an aggressive look that seems to suit SUVs so well. It’s arguably Urus-esque.

Stepping out of a Tesla and into the Eletre you immediately feel it’s hit another level. The materials, the sounds, the feel, everything is built to an extremely high standard, with a multitude of tech included that is only going to get better as Lotus send out their updates. From the carbon fibre styling touches to the magical light bar on the rear, everything feels well thought out and carefully designed.

Something that Lotus has done exceptionally well with the Eletre though, especially compared to anything Tesla has built, is making the “All-Electric Hyper-SUV” feel like a car. Yes, it’s extremely modern and advanced inside, but it still feels like what you would associate with a car. It still has something resembling a grille at the front, the wheels don’t look like cheap hubcaps there to help gain a tiny amount of range, the interior is still a car interior (unlike the more recent Tesla’s living room setup) and most importantly, it feels engaging to drive – something a huge amount of EVs are missing out on.

Range & Charging

This is arguably the most important part of owning an EV, and with an advertised range of 373 miles (in perfect conditions), the Eletre has some big numbers to live up to.

So what did Tim find out after a few weeks of getting used to the Eletre?

“I have driven over 1,400 miles, with a long journey to Bristol and back. Setting off fully charged with 318 miles (more later) at 6 am Sunday I had plenty of range for the 220 mile trip (I thought!), an average speed of just under 70mph – the roads were quiet. It soon started to drop and the system told me I needed to charge to reach the destination and still have 10% left (this is a useful setting).

As a Tesla user, I have never charged outside of their network, so I was a tad nervous! I pulled into a Gridserve as directed to find it was only 22kW speed (nightmare!). I quickly left and checked the Lotus settings changing them to 100kW recommendations only – all sorted ✅. Most chargers allow tap and pay which was simple to set up. InstaVolt and Shell Recharge were the options I used.

The return journey was a bit different as more traffic (Monday afternoon) so lower speed. Again I set off fully charged with 318 miles and with an average speed under 50mph it got me all the way home (220 miles) with 75 miles spare, so very accurate range.

Both journeys were autonomous on the Motorway which was better than my previous Tesla experience, but I’m still building confidence as this is new tech! When I ordered the car the range was advised at 384 miles, which currently is a long way off what the car can do. I still wouldn’t change my decision, but it’s not quite as expected and I will be feeding back to the Lotus team.

In summary, the range accuracy is better than the Model X and whilst the charging network is not as easy, it’s rare I will do regular long journeys, so I’m happy and would definitely recommend it to anyone as it is the best EV currently on the market. Plus I love the attention the car is getting as not many are on the roads yet!“

It sounds like Tim’s enjoying the Eletre so far, we never really doubted that! We’ll be keeping a close eye on Tim’s ownership journey over the next few months, meaning we will be one of the first to truly get a real owner’s review of Lotus’s first SUV and EV very soon!

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