Lotus Eletre X has a clever solution to EV range anxiety – and now it’s coming to Europe
This smart new Lotus might have hit the EV / PHEV sweet spot
QUICK SUMMARY
Lotus is bringing its clever new Eletre X to Europe. A variant of the Eletre electric SUV, the new model combines a smaller battery with a turbocharged engine that powers a generator.
The result is the same rapid electric performance (and fast ultra-rapid charging), but with a huge range of over 700 miles when both the battery and petrol tank are filled. Prices in Europe start at just under €100,000 (£86,400).
Lotus has confirmed its new Eletre X will be coming to Europe, and the range-extender hybrid SUV could be coming to the UK soon too.
You’re probably familiar with the Eletre, the big electric SUV from Lotus that T3 reviewed back in 2024 and in R form produces almost 1,000 horsepower. That car is still available, but it’s now joined by the Eletre X, which combines a battery and electric motors with a 2.0-litre petrol engine.
The result is a sporty SUV that still has lots of power – a combined 952 PS and 935 Nm of torque, which are both truly massive – but the total range is now 745 miles. That’s around double the claimed range of the all-electric Eletre and turns the car from an EV with the usual hint of range anxiety into a seriously long-legged SUV.
Also clever is how the Eletre X has a relatively small 70 kWh battery pack (down from 112 kWh in the electric version), which can fill from 20 to 80 percent in a claimed nine minutes. The smaller capacity helps here, and so does the car’s class-leading 900-volt electrical architecture and 426 kW maximum charge rate – more than anything today’s UK rapid chargers can deliver.
The Eletre X has a 150 kW onboard generator, powered by the turbocharged engine and its 52-litre fuel tank. This continuously replenishes the battery while driving, and can also send power directly to the front wheels when the car deems that the most efficient thing to do.
Shut the engine down, and Lotus says the Eletre X can still manage a respectable 217 miles on battery power alone. But the genius here is how the battery and engine combine to deliver that 745-mile headline figure.
Performance remains impressive, with a claimed 0-62 mph time of 3.3 seconds and an even more impressive 50 to 100 mph time of 3.9 seconds. Lotus says the Eletre X, with its smaller battery, is up to 120 kg lighter than the fully-electric Eletre 900, despite the addition of an engine.
Lotus explained how the hybrid system works: “The engine operates primarily as part of an intelligent onboard power generation system, replenishing available energy during longer journeys and sustained high-load driving. That same system intelligently adapts energy deployment depending on speed, battery state of charge and drive demand, operating across multiple drive scenarios, balancing pure EV driving, onboard power generation and hybrid assistance to optimise performance, efficiency and real-world usability.”
If this all sounds familiar, you might be thinking of the RX version of the original BMW i3. That small EV was offered with a small motorbike engine that acted as a generator, topping up the battery and increasing range. It didn’t drive the wheels, as the Lotus can, but it was a similar approach to aiding EV range – and arrived a decade before the Eletre X. So-called range-extender hybrids could well come back into fashion, as drivers seek EVs with the range (and fuel availability) of a petrol car.
Already available in China, the Lotus Eletre X is now coming to Europe. It’s available to order now, and deliveries are expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2026. Prices vary by country and currency, but land at about €122,000 for the Eletre X H1000 (which has 952 PS), and €99,000 for the less powerful (550 PS) Eletre X H550.
The latter is about £85,500, so that’s roughly where we hope UK prices will land when the Eletre X comes here at a later date.
