Lotus' New 450-kW DC Fast Chargers Are Ideal for EVs With an 800V+ Architecture

Lotus is back in business and is not wasting any valuable time. Part of the Chinese automotive behemoth Geely, the British marque is trying to convince customers that its zero-emission Emeya and Eletre are the ones to buy. For those who want the best of the best and have bank accounts displaying multiple zeros, the Evija hypercar is the one to have.

But Lotus wasn't born yesterday. The company knows EVs don't have the advantage of gas- and diesel-powered cars. Filling up with fossil fuel is easy, fast, and convenient. Moreover, few places don't have a gas station nearby.

Charging a battery-electric vehicle is complicated because you might need to deal with an app and reliability issues. Putting electrons in the high-voltage energy storage unit takes longer than refueling, and you depend on a third party to maintain them. The problem is that they sometimes don't or can't do it.

Tesla proved that having a dedicated team on standby, ready to act fast and fix a broken stall, was the right thing to do. Even though it added to the overall costs, the strategy worked wonders for the brand's reputation. Almost everyone perceives the Supercharger network as the best one in North America. Even though Europeans have access to multiple high-power charging options, they are not far off from thinking the same.

But what Tesla also proved is that offering EV owners charging solutions is a good way of securing some extra revenue and adding a couple of positive points to the company's reputation. Lotus is attempting to do the same thing, and it has some very good-looking pedestals that should help its charging points stand out. In fact, the marque revealed an entire suite of DC charging solutions called "Flash Charge."

There's a Supercharger-like stall that can serve only one battery-electric vehicle. It can dispense energy at a rate of 450 kW per hour. It looks like it was taken out of a Santiago Calatrava creation. The Spanish architect is known for his sculptural bridges and buildings.

If your EV's energy storage unit comes with the 800V+ architecture, it can take advantage of this capability. The Lucid Air Grand Touring, the Porsche Taycan, and the Ioniq 5, for example, can suck electrons from the grid very, very fast. The Eletre R can also go from 10% to 80% state of charge in just 20 minutes when hooked to one of these things.

However, do remember that reaching a charging rate of 350 kW isn't the most important thing. The charging curve is what matters most. Your EV can take advantage of that speed. But you'll spend more time plugged in if it can't maintain it.

Lotus also created a chunky stall with a large integrated display, similar to the one on the single-plug pedestal. It can fast-charge two EVs at once by itself. The two dispensers might also be able to show commercials, meaning Lotus can make some extra money through advertising deals.

But when you combine the bulky and thick "flash charger" with the liquid-cooled power cabinet, four EVs can take advantage of a total output of 600 amps.

The stalls are also liquid-cooled, which should help with long-term reliability and stable charging speed.

One of the images Lotus sent us also shows something that looks like a stainless steel Tesla Powerwall-like enclosure. But no specific details are provided about it. So, don't get your hopes up for an alternative.

The Chinese-owned British automaker has already deployed some of these chargers in China. Select European and Middle Eastern countries will see the first such pedestals erected in the spring of 2024. As such, no North American Charging Standard (NACS) inlet for now.

Lotus' EVs currently work best with 350-kW chargers. But the company promises that once the 450-kW stalls are up and running, owners can take full advantage of them without requiring any hardware upgrades. So, the Emeya, Eletre, and Evija are future-proofed.