Automotive News Europe - September 2019 - 17

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

AUTOMAKERS

the size of the battery box pushes it
toward the edges, the car needs more
crash protection. "In the side impact you
have a very limited zone of deformation
to the battery -- about half," said Niclas
Brannberg, director of computer-aided
engineering for the Chinese electric-car
brand Nio. That means extra stiffness,
meaning more expensive extruded aluminum beams for Nio. But Brannberg,
who has previously worked for Volvo
and Saab, estimates that the cost of
developing a new electric-only platform
is similar to that of a pure combustionengine platform.

BMW CEO Oliver Zipse says the automaker doesn't need to have a standalone EV platform. "You will not feel any difference between a single-purpose
platform or a flexible architecture," he said.

The platform that underpins the Jaguar I-Pace (shown) is not expected to
be further developed.
With the MEB platform, VW has switched
to rear-wheel drive on the simpler versions, whereas others will be four-wheel
drive, which means the instant power
delivered won't corrupt the steering. VW
also makes a big deal of the fact that the
cabin will be larger because it can push
it farther forward without the need to
package an internal-combustion engine
up front. "The length of a Golf, the room
of a Passat" is how VW describes the
first car on the MEB platform -- the ID3,
which goes on sale next year.

gine model. That will be important given
that -- for a few years yet, anyway -- the
expense of the battery pack will price
the electric car higher. VW is already
doing this. "The Modular Electric Toolkit
jettisons all the ballast of the fossil age,"
VW declared in its marketing, adding
that MEB led to "fundamental" changes
for everything from body design to interior packaging. We'll know if it has been
successful when VW shows the ID3, likely this month at the Frankfurt auto show.
Meanwhile, an electric car on a flexible
platform could end any unfavorable comparisons to its cheaper combustion-engine version. Within the VW Group, Audi
and Porsche are developing a larger platform for premium cars: PPE, or Premium
Platform Electric. But VW isn't the only
one investing in pure electric platforms.
Daimler AG is working on the Electric Vehicle Architecture -- or EVA2 -- expected
in 2021. Two sedans and two SUVs are
expected to be the first to use it.

The fossil age

Meanwhile, Renault Nissan is developing the CMA -- an electric-only, flat-floor
version of its broader Common Module
Family architecture -- expected in 2022.
And in Japan, Toyota is working with
Subaru on an EV platform it announced
in June. No timing has been given.

An automaker that builds on a unique
platform can market the car quite differently from a similar-size combustion-en-

The EV-only platform design with the
batteries sandwiched in the floor does
present its own problems. In cars where

SEPTEMBER 2019

VW is way ahead on cost with MEB, said
Sudowe of Gestamp, which builds battery boxes and chassis parts for cars
using that platform. "MEB will be the
benchmark for everyone," he said. "It's
very good on the price perspective."
For example, all MEB models except
the minivan will use the same control
arms, saving money on dies. Sudowe
estimates that MEB is around half the
cost of the EV-only platform Jaguar Land
Rover developed for the Jaguar I-Pace.
The I-Pace platform, designed as a halo
car to beat Jaguar's premium rivals to
market, is not expected to be further developed. Instead JLR will migrate models
to its new flexible Modular Longitudinal
Architecture starting next year. The first
model to use it will be an electric version
of the XJ large sedan.
Suppliers are being asked to be more
flexible with EV-specific parts, just in
case the actual numbers needed are
lower than quoted -- or higher. "Today,
probably none of our customers are absolutely sure how fast the market is going to move to EVs," Gestamp Chairman
Francisco Riberas told Automotive News
Europe. VW recently doubled its order
of battery boxes for MEB cars from Gestamp to 570,000 a year. The order indicates greater confidence that customers will switch to EVs as European laws
tighten on carbon dioxide emissions
starting in 2020.
VW's confidence is partly because it has
the scale -- even more so now that Ford
has agreed to use MEB for a range of European electric cars. For those without
the brand reach to spread the investment,
a flexible platform makes more sense.
"They want to minimize the risk," he said.
"Even if maybe a platform is not the best
for EVs, they adapt it so they have a bit
more flexibility in terms of volumes. It
might not be the best solution, but it will
probably be the most intelligent." ANE

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Automotive News Europe - September 2019

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