⚡ Lotus Eletre outpacing others at the charging station!

Happy Tuesday. This is Electric Avenue, the Thai Sweet Chili Sauce of electric vehicle newsletters. We’re the perfect mix of sweet and spicy 🌶️.

Here’s what we have for you today:

• 1 Video

• 3 Links 🔗

• Meme of the week 🤡

As always, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do get in touch. Simply reply to this email or leave a comment on the web. Let's get into it!

1 Video 🎥

The Lotus Eletre is a new electric “Hyper-SUV” from British sports car maker Lotus, owned by Chinese Geely Group which also owns Volvo, Polestar and other brands. The video above shows a Norwegian EV Youtuber test the Eletre on a 350kW IONITY fast charger and comparing it with the Audi e-tron GT, Mercedes EQS and the BMW i7.

But let’s be real, a car like that has only one worthy comparison in terms of charging curve: The Lucid Air, the only car which can add up to 300miles of EPA range in just 22 minutes.

For that reason, we used this video to compare the two vehicles in terms of charging performance:

Takeaways:

• The Eletre can keep up with the Lucid Air, and even outpaces it in the earlier part of the charging curve.

• Impressive performance on a slightly smaller battery (112kWh vs 118kWh).

• Caveat #1: We know that newer versions of the Lucid Air Grand Touring & Grand Touring-Performance have improved charging curves versus the Lucid Air Dream Edition tested by Tom in 2021 (see e.g. this Video where Lucid hits 350kw), but we could not find any detailed charging tests/curves for this model.

• Caveat #2: For a real comparison we’ll need to see how many miles of range these vehicles can add in a given timeframe (e.g 15min/30min). For now, the Lotus Eletre does not yet have an official EPA or WLTP range rating - just a WLTP range target of 600km.

Which car would you choose for a long distance trip - Lucid Air or Lotus Eletre? Reply to this email with the number (#1 - Lucid, #2 - Lotus)! We’ll tally up the results next week 😀 

Additional note: As it pertains to the Eletre’s charging performance on low-voltage DC fast chargers (refer to⚡️ High Voltage - Low Charging 😕 ), it looks like the 800V system in the Lotus Eletre SUV comes with an onboard DC booster. German journalists tested the Eletre on a European low-voltage Tesla Supercharger and saw a limit of just 80kW. Compare this to the 150kW limit of the optional DC booster in the Porsche Taycan for example.

3 Links 🔗

• NACS on the rise 🌅: When we last reported on the increasing adoption of Tesla’s NACS connector in North America we pointed out the need for a formal standardization process in a relevant standardization body (e.g., ISO, IEC, IEEE, SAE, ANSI). Now the U.S. automotive standardization body SAE has announced that it wants to turn NACS into a formal SAE standard by end of 2023. At the same time cable suppliers are starting to announce launch of NACS-connectors in their portfolio for the same timeframe.

• Xiaomi goes EV 🚗: Chinese tech company Xiaomi is mostly known for its affordable smartphones and similar gadgets. But the company has been working on an electric car project too. Now some leaked images indicate that Xiaomi’s first vehicle could arrive with an 800V-battery platform and over 100kWh battery capacity.

• Card payments for Tesla? 💳: A new Tesla v4 Supercharger dispenser design was spotted in the UK with a contactless card reader and space for a display. This would mark the first time ever for Tesla to include a display on Superchargers and to open up for direct credit card payment.

Meme of the Week 🤡

That's a wrap for this week!

Reader Review of the Week

Selected ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ Freakin´ awesome on⚡ Why charging sucks - and what to do about it 😲 and wrote:

"So many great and relevant points made by Darren regarding collaboration and working in common problems, across the EV Charging space. Great details in the rest of the articles too"

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. The Electric Avenue team may hold investments in or may otherwise be affiliated with the companies discussed.