Italdesign and Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) have announced a partnership that will provide the automotive sector with a complete high-performance EV production solution. 

Combining WAE’s composite EV rolling chassis with vehicle development services from Italdesign, the joint venture will support automotive OEMs in the creation of a range of premium EVs, including high-performance GTs, crossovers and sedans.  

WAE’s EVX chassis integrates the battery casing with elements more commonly perceived as part of the body structure. 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. The resulting higher-profiled cross section achieves much of the torsional stiffness needed to deliver the full potential of the platform. These two design philosophies reduce reliance on the upper structure.

Starting from WAE’s rolling chassis, Italdesign’s engineering team then adds safety systems, structures and UX devices to constitute the modular platform that will be the base on which to build several different high-performance vehicles.

The new platform can support production runs of up to 10,000 units, 500 of which could be manufactured by Italdesign at its facilities.

The core battery pack can deliver 1,000 kW of power with 104 kWh-120 kWh of capacity, which can be expanded to 160 kWh for a potential range of 1,000 km.

The platform can accommodate wheelbases from 2,900 mm to 3,100 mm, and customers will be able to choose rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive layouts.

“Demand for high-performance EVs is continuing to show considerable growth, but to date, there has not been a complete EV production solution,” said WAE Technical 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.”

Source: WAE