Auto Design Could Get Wild Thanks to Electric Cars
Electric cars are changing the auto industry in more ways than one. How could their powertrains change the way cars look?
Written by Andrew Koole
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
Throughout all of
car history
, designs have come and gone. Wing tips were replaced by spoilers. Bubble-shaped cabins faded away as windshields got larger and larger. But overall, the basic structure of cars has generally stayed the same.Except for a few high-performance sports cars and a Volkswagen or two, gas cars are generally all built with the engined housed up front, followed by space for occupants and ending off with varying amounts of cargo space.
But the needs for an
electric car
are different. And the new powertrain’s differences have the potential to revolutionize car design. Jerry
dug around the internet to discover more about the creative promise provided by EVs.The current state of electric car design
As with most large companies, automakers tend to have a conservative approach to change. For many in the industry, transitioning from gas tanks to batteries seems like enough of an adjustment for consumers. Drastically altering the shape of cars is asking for too much right now.
Instead of jumping on the potential for innovation brought on by electric cars, most heritage brands like Ford, GM, and Jeep are choosing to stick with traditional shapes and nameplates to visually tie their EVs into their pre-existing legacies.
Even most
EV startups
have maintained a pretty normal structure for their first models. Teslas, for example, share many design traits with the vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) sharing the road with them, as do Rivians and Polestars.Let Jerry find your price in only 45 seconds
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Hints at where car design could be headed
Longstanding automakers might have a point. The Ford
Mustang Mach-E
became a pretty divisive vehicle when arrived in 2021, and all Ford did was raise it a couple of inches and call it an SUV crossover.But that hasn’t scared off a few newcomers. Lucid, for example, designed its first model, the Lucid Air, without the long front end seen on most sedans in the luxury class. Admittedly though, the
New York Times
says even they wanted the Air to look “nontraditional but not weird.”Thankfully, one company has embraced the “weird” and truly allowed its car designers to think outside the box.
California startup
Canoo
has two models prepped for production: a van it expects to offer by the end of 2022 and a pickup truck slated for 2024. Both vehicles look like nothing you have ever seen on the road before.Will changes in car design affect car insurance?
Car insurance for electric vehicles remains higher on average compared to ICE cars, partially because they still cost more on average, but also because of the expense of replacing their parts—especially their batteries.
That said, the actual shape and design of EVs probably won’t affect car insurance prices very much. If anything, innovations could make electric cars safer, helping lower premiums.
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