Faraday Future, a California-based electric-vehicle start-up has come up with an innovative platform design that could impact the way manufacturers build electric vehicles. Their platform will be built on a flexible battery layout which will determine the wheelbase length. Moreover, the platform can have up to four electric motors simultaneously powering it.
Faraday Future has said that with the variable platform architecture, they will be able to have the potential to deliver a diverse range of vehicles. The modular platform will have the batteries that will sit on the rail-like structures. Faraday Future engineers have called these battery holding structures as ‘strings’. These strings can be added or removed depending on the need of the battery capacity and length of the vehicle.
Nick Sampson, Faraday’s Vice President of research and development, has been quoted saying “The modular platform can be changed in physical size using a very easy technique. The battery pack has been architected in a way that enables different size battery packs to be quickly and easily used.” “Having designed, developed, and engineered one element of it, you practically replicate that element a number of times as we want bigger and bigger packs. This is different to how everybody is currently doing it.”
The platform architecture could use one to four electric motors, which will be decided by how much power is needed for the vehicle type. The simple yet innovative platform also means that the vehicle could be front-wheel-drive, rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive. The adjustable crumple-zones of the platform can also be modified to adjust the front and rear overhang of the vehicle. Furthermore, the flexible wheelbase length will mean the new platform can be a base for something from a hatchback, to a lengthy luxury saloon.
They have showcased the potential of the new variable platform architecture with their 1000hp FFZERO1 concept car at the CES2016, you can read more about that here.
