Lotus Elise with Petronas E01e engine on display

Lotus Elise E01 engine display 4

This Lotus Elise Series 1 was put on display at Proton’s Centre of Excellence during the company’s announcement of its new engine programme. Unlike the standard car, the Elise seen here packs a Petronas-derived E01e engine, which is said to form the basis of the NE01 engine that is due on the new Perdana by end-2017.

Pop the hood of this Elise, and you’ll find a E01e 2.0 litre in-line four-cylinder petrol engine that features an aluminium block, continuous control variable valve timing (VVT) and double overhead camshafts (DOHC). Power is rated at 204 PS at 7,300 rpm and 203 Nm at 5,300 rpm.

Lotus Elise E01 engine display 10

The E01 engine has had a long history, with the project first kicking off in March 1997. With applied knowledge gained from Petronas’ experience in Formula 1, the engine was first fired up on February 20, 1998. Shortly after, the engine made its way into two test mules, a Proton Waja and a Satria GTi, before the Elise received its own.

In 2012, it was reported that Proton had acquired all of Petronas’ engine technologies along with other patents for RM63 million. This gave Proton ownership of a family of normally-aspirated engines and turbocharged engines. The engines were meant to be configurable in three displacements (1.8, 2.0 and 2.2 litres), although the E01e was the only engine revealed to date.

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Gerard Lye

Originating from the corporate world with a background in finance and economics, Gerard’s strong love for cars led him to take the plunge into the automotive media industry. It was only then did he realise that there are more things to a car than just horsepower count.

 

Comments

  • alldisc on Jan 19, 2016 at 10:33 am

    First. Lotus Elise is now already 20 yrs old. Still a good sports car but nothing to shout about anymore. Secondly, 203Nm at 5,300rpm?? Yeah. It will behave just like campro giving low end torque, poor pulling power and sacrifice fuel economy. Good for lightweight cars or perhaps racing.

    I believe Proton engineers realised this some time ago. For the record, preve 1.6 turbo has 205Nm at 2,000 rpm. And the driveability of the car is brilliant…but that of course helped by cvt tranny also

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 10
    • The e01 engine output power and torque is almost similar to honda k20a engine (used in DC5 integra, ep3 civic hatchback, civic fd2r, accord euro). Talking about torque, the k20a engine produce its max torque of 202Nm at 7000rpm. And yet people doesnt recognise the k20a as a fuel guzzler, rather a high performance engine. another thing to look at engine performance is to look at the torque curve. Proton’s CPS engine gets an early 135Nm at 2000rpm and maxed out 150Nm at 5000rpm. No torque dip presents in the entire rev range. We can see similar torque graph pattern in honda’s k20a, so should the petronas e01.

      Another story, that petronas engined elise was kept at the basement of proton hq CoSe for a long time. i snapped a few pictures back then and thinking, might as well attached a gps underneath it before they scrapped it into the ocean. Never thought proton would reinstate it back into the main showroom!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 3
    • Kancil Hybrid on Jan 19, 2016 at 2:20 pm

      Toyota Subaru D4S Boxer in GT86 BRZ also has 200 hp and 205 Nm. Typical output for high end 2.0 NA engine (2.0 = 200 hp), same as this Petronas engine.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • sewel on Jan 19, 2016 at 10:38 am

    Wow put at new perdana surely many will buy it

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 3
  • Contilover on Jan 19, 2016 at 10:46 am

    Im proud if this is successful. come on guys… we are just users, when can we as Asian can produce our own product particularly involve large manufacturing?
    stop bashing towards the innate Malaysian system. if u don’t have the patriotic sense due to our political situation, Im sorry on behalf, jz wait until they finally extinct. the new generation slowly but surely liberalize than the GEN X.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 27 Thumb down 2
    • 4G63T DSM on Jan 19, 2016 at 11:13 am

      Good god. I’m sorry. Did you use Google translate for that comment?

      Yes, its good they are finally using some of the tech that they spent money on. But then again, it is tech that is a good part of 2 decades old. The world has unfortunately moved on.

      Pretty much the NE01 will not be the same engine as the E01, so why still there is news about an engine based on the E01?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 10
  • donno on Jan 19, 2016 at 11:07 am

    The original e01, although started its life as a spinoff of the sauber petronas engineering project, bulk of the real engineering of the engine is actually by yamaha of Japan, which also designed many of toyota’s engine.

    The continous vvt system of e01 is almost identical to many of the toyota’s vvt system.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 6
    • frossonice on Jan 19, 2016 at 12:15 pm

      I thought the EO1 engine were based on old Ferrari F1 engine during Sauber-Petronas alliance way back in early 2000?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
      • donno on Jan 19, 2016 at 2:35 pm

        Sauber petronas engineering was headed by osamu goto, ex Honda f1 guy. Yes the f1 engine is a rebadged ferrari f1 engine, but for the e01 road engine project, osamu goto linked petronas with yamaha, and alot of the basic engineering of the e01 was done with yamaha in Japan, which many did not know. A lot of petronas guys went back and forth to yamaha in Japan during the heydays of the e01 project.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 0
  • Its all really well wit this E01 engine, n all the bells n whistles that came along wit it……. But it was conceived bout 2 decades ago, how competitive is it still now????

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 2
    • syer1n on Jan 19, 2016 at 2:30 pm

      and that’s why Proton refer back to the original developer to develop the old engine to meet today’s requirement. even so, the Petronas FP1 bike is still an impressive machine even today considering its power to displacement ratio showing you that Petronas engine is no joke.

      perhaps the Egyptian who build the pyramid also rode that bike. its so old. who knows.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
      • But i cant contain my excitement though, cant wait wat proton has in store for us.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Patutla on Jan 19, 2016 at 11:15 am

    DonkeyKong and john are the same person. Wait for it..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 8
    • Detector on Jan 19, 2016 at 11:48 am

      If you see the words eg.good move, good job, hope, yes he just begin working defend junk again.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 6
  • The e01 engine output power and torque is almost similar to honda k20a engine (used in DC5 integra, ep3 civic hatchback, civic fd2r, accord euro). Talking about torque, the k20a engine produce its max torque of 202Nm at 7000rpm. And yet people doesnt recognise the k20a as a fuel guzzler, rather a high performance engine. another thing to look at engine performance is to look at the torque curve. Proton’s CPS engine gets an early 135Nm at 2000rpm and maxed out 150Nm at 5000rpm. No torque dip presents in the entire rev range. We can see similar torque graph pattern in honda’s k20a, so should the petronas e01.

    Another story, that petronas engined elise was kept at the basement of proton hq CoSe for a long time. i snapped a few pictures back then and thinking, might as well attached a gps underneath it before they scrapped it into the ocean. Never thought proton would reinstate it back into the main showroom!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 2
  • Power Rangers on Jan 19, 2016 at 10:03 pm

    please put the engine in Lotus concept car to sell instead…

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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