Watch the Lotus Evija on its way to series production this summer

Currently, there are only three hypercar-level EVs in the making. There’s the Croatian Rimac C_Two, which also acts as a base for the Pininfarina Battista, the Japanese Aspark Owl developed and built by MAT in Italy, and the Lotus Evija, powered by Williams Advanced Engineering tech and made in Hethel, England. All of these cars promise a peak of around 2000 horsepower, along with dynamic capabilities limited only by the tires.

For Lotus, the Evija is not just the brand’s first electric vehicle—it’s also the first model developed under Geely’s management. Claimed figures for the Evija include 0–62 mph in under three seconds; 0–186 mph in under nine seconds; and a top speed of more than 200 mph, along with a range of 250 miles and full charge capability of its 70-kWh, 2000-kW battery in under ten minutes. In case you find an 800-volt charger.

The sports car maker is planning to sell “up to” 130 Evijas, and with series production and customer deliveries set to begin this summer, its new electric production facility is already up and running, located next to the famous 2.2-mile Lotus track in Hethel.

The EV factory has been fitted with gantries framing the build stations on three sides. These have been designed to be sleek and unobtrusive, though robust enough to carry the necessary power, data, and compressed air systems required to assemble the Evija. The engineers also added an overhead gantry crane, multiple vehicle lifts, and a wheel alignment ramp, along with an illumination system consisting of 30,000 powerful, yet low-energy LEDs. And once an Evija passes the light tunnel for its final inspection, it will be driven out directly on to the test track for dynamic validation. Because as Lotus says, the Evija is “destined to be driven, not left unappreciated in a gilded cage.”

But being a high-voltage EV and all, how about a Faraday cage?