[Rob P]

I haven't watched the video, but it's odd that it pops up now.

Only yesterday talking of motor industry futures we were thinking about how the wheel will complete yet another revolution and we are possibly about to see a resurgence of 'the coachbuilder'

The suggestion is that electric platforms will become widely available, and an industry will emerge, producing short run bodies to mount on these, in much the way HJ Mulliner / Park Ward and their ilk used to custom build on Rolls/Bentley chassis in the thirties.

The only glitch would be approvals, and how these would be applied. You can hardly crash test an example of each body style.

Rob P

[Colonel Panic]

Another issue will be the move away from chassis & body to monocoque. The "platform" would need to be a modular design rather than a complete chassis surely? But that shouldn't be an insurmountable problem. Exciting times ahead.

[nallen]

Blindsided by Jim Harris, published a while ago now, talked (among many other things) about "mass customisation" -- how the modern tech would enable individualised products.

Re cars: a bespoke manufacturer just needs to convince regulators that its crash test modelling is accurate enough. I guess if the monocoque key points are established then that's a major part of it. (Remembering that the Ford Ka mk 2 and the Fiat 500 have the same architecture underneath …)

[eltonioni]

That's a fascinating way forward. We'll not be talking Mulliner type volumes, but if there's a market share to be had for numerous coachbuilders who might produce a couple of hundred thousand units a year it must surely encourage a parallel testing market to develop alongside them if the hard work of the floorpan and drivetrain is a known feature. With the lead-in benefits of CAD design and computer model testing beforehand this could be a massive shift if the industry lets it.

[Fellsteruk]

I do like Truckla but man has she got... cough... not sure I’d have the staying power to do that to my model x

I had the wheels powder coated and worried enough about that

[Rob P]

... if the hard work of the floorpan and drivetrain is a known feature.

And have you noticed how in ICE we talk about a Ford 4.2 litre V8 or a VAG 1.8 litre diesel?

But nobody actually gives a toss about the heritage of electric motors, the output is all that counts. A further weakening of branding and the loyalty that goes with it, making the selling of white label platforms even more likely.

Rob P

[Fellsteruk]

I think it's mostly because automotive EV powertrains are very new in the grand scheme of things and the bore of a piston engine = power and fuel consumption but in most peoples minds being told you have a 300kwh motor would go over their head, even if you talked in hp most people wouldn't have a clue.

I'm excited to see how electric plans impact the light aircraft market in the coming years however i still dont see how current battery tech can make it work very well???

[Flyin'Dutch']

I think it's mostly because automotive EV powertrains are very new in the grand scheme of things and the bore of a piston engine = power and fuel consumption but in most peoples minds being told you have a 300kwh motor would go over their head, even if you talked in hp most people wouldn't have a clue.

Not only that but the fact that even with some poxy small EV you get an acceleration which can only be matched by some big bore/HP ICE and is going to be pretty impressive which is a more evocative experience than the knowledge that your jalopy can do 250mph.

[Fellsteruk]

The acceleration is just mental on EVs even a basic leaf or Zoe can zip off a standing position.

My car was in the garage for a little while and I had a performance model x with insane mode as the loaner and I just couldn’t get use to the torque and power at lights it was gone and even on a motorway it could do 40ish to 70ish in less than 2 seconds and whilst sounding like the jetsons car

Was glad to get my own car back but was a fun couple months

[Flyin'Dutch']

As an aside on this subject.

I discussed with someone from the automotive industry that there was a programme on the German TV a short while back where they compared the CO2 footprint of an EV with a Merc. They contended that it would take 100k miles or so before the EV was having a smaller CO2 footprint than the Diesel Merc.

That may well be true but people who based on that justify that sticking to ICE (both as consumer and producers) is the way forward are clearly not in tune with the mood music.

I think that some old well established names will just vanish unless they manage to buy in developed EV technology PDQ.

[Rob P]

I discussed with someone from the automotive industry that there was a programme on the German TV a short while back where they compared the CO2 footprint of an EV with a Merc. They contended that it would take 100k miles or so before the EV was having a smaller CO2 footprint than the Diesel Merc.

It rather depends how you do the maths and the assumptions that are made, what power (fossil or not) was used in the factory that built the EV, how much CO2 emissions are saved by the batteries in their later life as a stand-by power source, etc etc etc. You can bend the statistics any way you like, but you can't escape the fact that the EVs are a better drive.

Rob P

[JoeC]

The only glitch would be approvals, and how these would be applied. You can hardly crash test an example of each body style.

Rob P

Maybe you wouldn’t need to if the body was completely frangible and the underlying structure offered the same pedestrian/passenger safety.

[malcolmfrost]

Already happening! At Fully Charged there was an EV Ferrari, classic body, built on a Tesla chassis, faster and lighter than the original!
https://www.electricclassiccars.co.uk/

[LowNSlow1]

I wonder if it was them that did the electric Spitfire for Top Gear?

[Miscellaneous]

At Fully Charged there was an EV Ferrari, classic body, built on a Tesla chassis, faster and lighter than the original!

To paraphrase Marek Reichman (Aston Martin's Chief Creative Officer); with the development of electric cars we are entering an exciting period in which bodies can be attached to a 'skateboard'.

In other words the change to grills is the tip of the iceberg in terms of design opportunity.

May be building the running gear for the merging market would be an option for Tesla.