Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) and Italdesign have joined hands to create a modular platform that will spawn a wide range of electric vehicles. If you do not know, WAE came into being in 2010 as a Williams Formula 1 team subsidiary. On the other hand, Italdesign works under the VW Group for the last 11 years. According to these firms, the new Williams and Italdesign EV platform will be able to give birth to different types of vehicles, from sports cars, SUVs to sedans. The platform will be available for new EV companies and OEMs.
The companies call it Williams’s EVX EV platform that features a structural battery. Williams says, “the EVX platform allows EVs to be industrialized quickly, emphasizing performance, flexibility, and business cases for small- to medium-volume production.”
“The platform is made from recycled composite materials and aluminium,” Williams speaks, “making EVX lightweight and setting new standards for static and torsional stiffness.”
The EVX could spawn vehicles with wheelbases from 114 inches to 122 inches with rear- and all-wheel-drive configuration. The buyers would have the liberty to select the car design and its powertrain.
WAE used a variant of its modular battery system for a Formula E vehicle, and there it created a power output of around 1000 kW and 620 miles of range. Furthermore, WAE offers battery packs for the Extreme E off-road racing series and a new European-based electric touring car series known as the Electric Touring Car Racing series or ETCR. WAE states their platform can accommodate batteries between 104.0 and 120.0 kWh.
The Engineering firm also believes its structural battery is different and more advanced. “Front and rear chassis structures mount to the carbon-composite case, and crash loads can be transferred via internal reinforcements to the integral side sills,” Williams says. “The resulting higher-profiled cross-section achieves much of the torsional stiffness needed to deliver the full potential of the platform.” In other words, WAE states, their platform is less dependent on the “upper structure,” possibly giving designers more freedom.
Williams also says the modular platform is “ready for customization by the Italdesign styling team, who will shape the final vehicle to match the brand’s requirements in terms of marketing positioning, design direction, etc.”
“Demand for high-performance electric vehicles is continuing to show considerable growth, but to date, there has not been a complete EV production solution,” says WAE tech director Paul McNamara. “This unique relationship brings together state-of-the-art EV rolling chassis technology with one of the world’s leaders in vehicle body engineering.”
Italdesign chief technical officer Antonion Casu speaks the plan is to deliver vehicles in the “GT, sedan, crossover, and convertible markets, fully customizable inside and outside. We are targeting business cases that will cover different production volumes from an Ultra Limited Series up to 10,000 units a year, 500 of which can be built by Italdesign at our facilities in Turin.”
Source and Images: CarandDriver