New Lotus Evija X spotted on the Nurburgring

The Lotus Evija is already one of the most extreme all-electric hypercars we’ve seen, but a new track-focused variant called the Evija X has just been spotted taking on the famous Nurburgring. 

Auto Express understands that the Evija X wasn’t at the ‘Green Hell’ for purely development purposes but to set a new record around the 12.9-mile circuit. Our spy imagery shows the Evija X undisguised, detailing the extensive changes compared to the regular Evija. 

Lotus has acknowledged that the Evija X was at the ‘ring, saying, “The Evija X is an all-new technology concept from Lotus. Based on the Evija road car, it is the ultimate expression of Evija and has been tested on multiple racetracks in multiple countries in the last weeks. We have made great progress, successfully meeting all our objectives, and learning about the challenges of lapping the Nürburgring Nordschleife.” The British brand didn’t state the full extent of these ‘objectives’ although we expect a Nurburgring lap record to be one.  

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The current Nurburgring all-electric lap record is held by the Volkswagen ID.R with a time of six minutes and 5.336 secs. To beat that time the Evija X has received plenty of exterior tweaks, such as the huge swan-neck rear wing, winged side skirts, a large front splitter with canards and larger wheel arches. 

The Evija X is a track-only car, judging not only by the performance additions but also from the weight savings made by removing the rear view mirrors and the headlights. A full carbon-fibre body is on show and inside we can see a stripped out interior complete with roll cage - the windows look like plastic ones to save further weight. 

Lotus hasn’t said what will power the Evija X. The standard Evija comes with a 70kWh battery that can be adjusted between 986bhp in ‘Range’ mode up to 1,972bhp in ‘Track’ mode - we suspect the latter mode will be the only choice if the Evija X uses the same battery. 

The Evija X acceleration should better the standard car’s sub three-second 0-62mph time but we expect the top speed to be reduced due to the new downforce-orientated aerodynamics. 

Now find out more about the fastest cars to take on the Nurburgring...