EV skateboard chassis history

“The architecture would not interfere with the leading hat of the car or truck,” claimed Mike Simcoe, worldwide vice president of design at GM. “Structurally, the skateboard properly stops at the floorpan. And so all the things previously mentioned that is absolutely free. In a traditional build, issues like the cowl and dash panel and the front hinge pillars are controlled by factors coming out of the chassis, such as engines, fuel tanks, and so forth. But in a skateboard, it is really all down small, and you’ve got acquired additional liberty.

“You … convey it by proportion. You can do a prolonged sprint-to-axle, you can do a tall automobile. It really is all ruled by the H-position,” he reported, referring to the theoretical pivoting place of a passenger’s hip, which influences all the things from roof top to interior house to simplicity of entry and exit.

Some of the latest EVs, these as the Lucid Air, Rivian R1T and impending Cadillac Celestiq, reveal the benefit of the skateboard chassis. These autos have generous interior area relative to their overall body dimensions, and in the case of the Rivian’s pickup, enough storage parts not out there in overall body-on-body trucks.

Since electrical motors are smaller than gasoline engines and call for fewer umbilicals, this kind of as cooling and exhaust hookups, engineers can set generate motors in the front axle, in the rear axle, or both of those in the case of all-wheel-push cars. If the Lordstown Endurance pickup launches, it will be the 1st present day frequent output automobile to have the motors in the wheel hubs. The Stamina has its battery pack mounted involving the frame rails, although it however employs a fairly regular rugged steel truck body.

Roush’s Fraker believes just one of the skateboard’s limitations is that it isn’t really suited to substitute the frames utilised on hardworking automobiles, this sort of as large- obligation trucks that haul big masses.

“I think it will be really a few years before we see important vehicles that take care of massive hundreds go to the skateboard,” he said. These frame rails give us exceptional toughness, and I consider they will persevere in the business market place. But anything in the lighter courses, you will see extra integration of the battery and the motor vehicle.”

Lindsay Brooke, editor of SAE Intercontinental, the journal of the organization formerly regarded as the Society of Automotive Engineers, says designers can generate lengthier motor vehicles on the skateboard chassis, and engineers can quickly accommodate people changes with out disrupting the assembly lines. But the width of a skateboard vehicle is not as adaptable.