(June 30, 2012) LONDON — Brimming with innovation, technology, performance and power, the Lotus Evora 414E is a series hybrid technology demonstrator which shows some of the headline technologies that Lotus Engineering has within its portfolio.

The Evora 414E is powered by two electric motor packs developing 408 horsepower driving the rear wheels through its Xtrac transmission with a battery pack that can be charged by the Lotus range extender engine or directly from mains electricity.

The Lotus 3 cylinder range extender engine has been design protected to run on either gasoline or renewable bio alcohol fuels (methanol and ethanol). It drives an EVO electric generator which produces electrical energy to either charge the battery pack or power the EVO traction motors directly.

In normal driving, the Evora 414E will run purely on electricity stored in the battery pack for up to 30 miles (48 km).

Should the driver require more performance under hard acceleration, for example, the electricity will come from both the battery storage and the small range extender engine. Performance is translated to about 4 seconds from 0 to 60.

Now that the car is undergoing testing, what does 1000 Nm (737 pound-feet of torque) in an Evora feel like?

Simon Corbett, Principal Vehicle Dynamics Test and Development Engineer at Lotus Engineering, has been doing the majority of the development testing, over the last few weeks, said, "The Evora S has 400 Nm of torque which in such a lightweight car is already a healthy figure. But the Evora 414E has two and a half times that amount. The acceleration sensation is almost indescribable, the surge of torque is like an ocean wave."

As part of the REEVolution consortium, funded by the government's innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board, Lotus will show a cutaway version of the Evora 414E, with the addition of regenerative braking, HALOsonic and realistic 7 speed paddle shift technologies at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, giving an unusual insight into this pioneering vehicle.