Italdesign and Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) have announced a new partnership in which the two companies are aiming to provide a complete high-performance EV production solution for upper premium segment customers. The joint venture will see WAE’s EVX composite electric vehicle chassis being combined with turn-key vehicle development services from Italdesign to create fully customisable solutions that are adaptable to individual brands’ needs.
The WAE chassis spearheading the collaboration combines recycled composite materials with aluminum, offering it lightness and high static and torsional stiffness. The company says that the platform differentiates itself from other EV platforms currently in the market by integrating the battery casing with elements more commonly perceived as part of the body structure. This results in a reduced reliance on the upper structure and provides greater design freedom for a variety of “top hats.”
As such, the modular platform, which will be able to accommodate wheelbases from 2,900 mm to 3,100 mm, can be used for the creation of different bodystyles, from high performance GTs and sedans to convertibles and crossovers, in rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive configurations.
The EVX features a molded composite structural battery with a core pack designed in-house by WAE. Specifications include the ability to deliver up to 1,000 kW of power with 104 kWh to 120 kWh of energy. Expanding the battery capacity to 160 kWh offers an operating range of up to 1,000 km.
Under the partnership, Italdesign’s engineering team completes the vehicle architecture around the EVX by adding safety systems, structures and UX devices to constitute the modular platform that will be the base vehicle. The platform is then ready for customisation by the company’s styling division, which will shape the final vehicle to match a brand’s requirements in terms of marketing positioning and design direction.
The companies say that aside from high performance, their solution will allow newcomers as well as established automakers the ability to bring a product with a reduced time to market as well as affordability at low-to-medium volumes. According to the companies, the new platform is capable of supporting production runs up to 10,000 units, up to 500 of which can be manufactured by Italdesign at its facilities in Turin.
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