{"id":60210,"date":"2013-04-16T12:25:38","date_gmt":"2013-04-16T16:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=60210"},"modified":"2013-04-16T14:29:10","modified_gmt":"2013-04-16T18:29:10","slug":"auto-geeks-give-nod-to-lotus-evora-plug-in-hybrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2013\/04\/auto-geeks-give-nod-to-lotus-evora-plug-in-hybrid\/","title":{"rendered":"Auto Geeks Give Nod to Lotus Evora Plug-In Hybrid"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Lotus Evora 4414 plug-in gets the auto engineering world's nod.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There seems to be no limit to the number of awards handed out in the auto industry these days.\u00a0 But what sort of vehicle might the engineers who actually design our cars, trucks and crossovers give the nod to? This year, it\u2019s the Lotus Evora 414E Range Extender Hybrid that wins the SAE World Congress Tech Award.<\/p>\n

The timing of the Tech Award coincides with the industry geek fest held at Detroit\u2019s Cobo Hall each spring at which time all sorts of new technologies are introduced. So, it\u2019s perhaps no surprise that a plug-in vehicle takes the honors for 2013 \u2013 though Lotus is not a name one normally associates with green machines.<\/p>\n

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Your Source for Auto Show News!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sponsored by the SAE\u2019s Automotive Engineering International Magazine, the award is supposed to highlight a mix of design and engineering innovation, \u201cuniqueness,\u201d potential for real-world applications and other benefits to both customers and the auto industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lotus Evora 414E was chosen for the AEI Tech Award for its unique combination of a multimode virtual seven-speed shift scheme, torque-vectoring stability control, and energy and power management optimization schemes,\u201d explains Kevin Jost, Editorial Director of Automotive Engineering International Magazine.<\/p>\n

The Lotus Evora 414E is clearly not to be confused with your run-of-the-mill green machine.\u00a0 It can launch from 0 to 60 in just 4.4 seconds \u2013 or less than half the time it takes the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle to get there.<\/p>\n

Credit a drivetrain that pairs a 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine with twin electric motors, one for each of the rear wheels.\u00a0 The combined output is a hefty 408 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque.<\/p>\n

The layout not only allows the vehicle to operate in pure electric mode, or as a more conventional hybrid, but it also permits torque vectoring \u2013 shifting power left or right to help enhance cornering.<\/p>\n

The driving experience is enhanced, the editors note, by the use of a paddle-shift transmission that can simulate the behavior of a conventional 7-speed gearbox. The system, meanwhile, also helps recover energy normally lost during braking and coasting, storing it in the little sports car\u2019s lithium-ion battery pack. That pack holds enough energy for about 30 miles in electric vehicle mode, while combined battery and gas range is abut 300 miles.<\/p>\n

The Lotus Evora Plug-in also uses a HALOsonic sound synthesis system to deliver a more traditionally sporty audio note that SAE editors credited for \u201cenhanced\u2026driver involvement\u201d while also helping \u201cimprove pedestrian safety outside the vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government is, in fact, finalizing rules that will require battery cars to create noise to alert pedestrians and bicyclists.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Lotus has only a handful of the Evora 414E hybrids running right now. There’s no set plan for production, though “that’s certainly still a possibility,” according to spokesman Kevin Smith. You’re probably more likely, he suggests, to see the plug-in drivetrain — or at least some of its components — supplied to other automakers in the near-term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There seems to be no limit to the number of awards handed out in the auto industry these days. But what sort of vehicle might the engineers who actually design our cars, trucks and crossovers give the nod to? This year, it\u2019s the Lotus Evora 414E Range Extender Hybrid that wins the SAE World Congress Tech Award. TheDetroitBureau.com has the story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60210"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=60210"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=60210"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=60210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}