EV manufacturers for the most part have settled on a ‘skateboard chassis’ for placing batteries on cars. However, a new design has emerged that could replace this horizontal arrangement with a vertical one. This design, proposed by British EV design firm Page-Roberts, could even come with an extra 30 percent range.
The vertically stacked battery design comes boosting driving range but at the cost of splitting the interior in two. Only time can tell if saving energy is more valuable than the conventional old seating design of the interior.
For those who don’t know much of the terminologies used in automobile engineering, a skateboard chassis is a base structure or platform holding the batteries, electric motors, and other electronics in place, but it could soon have a competitor.
No wonder electric vehicles are more efficient and many think the world has reached the most optimized performance, but Page Roberts wants to tell the world that the EV efficiency could be increased with a “no skateboard” design.
“The skateboard arrangement has become the mainstay of most EVs. But this results in taller vehicles with increased aerodynamic losses and energy consumption (especially at motorway speeds), the extra structure required to protect against impact, and a longer wheelbase to account for the battery,” explains CEO Freddy Page-Roberts. “The increased size and weight dramatically inhibit range.”
The vertical battery design would make the EV’s more compact with an increased utility. The new design puts a vertical battery stack at the center of a small EV, splitting the car in two from its interior. While most people enjoy looking at what’s ahead in their journey, this design would leave the rear seat passengers facing backward, and that is sourced from making legroom for the passengers at the back. The battery pack is also angled in a way to fit better between the reclined seats, taking care not to compromise on the comfort of the passengers.
Locating the battery pack in the middle of the interior allows Page Roberts to gain more range and better aerodynamics for the EV’s with a substantial reduction in the production cost. The only downside of this design is the compromised interior, which might appear to be strange to start with, but proves worthy enough with time as it brings along more practicality and cost savings.