The advent of electric cars
has already changed the automotive industry immensely, but the impact of EVs is spreading to other industries as well. If you’ve ever driven an electric car, you know that by feeling alone the ride is very different. Electric cars swap out a noisy internal combustion engine for a near-silent electric motor. Forget the days of checking under the hood, as the primary functional element of an EV isn’t in the hood at all, but in the floor.
Dubbed the “skateboard,” the flatbed of battery packs and axles is what makes up the base of an electric car. This key design element is shaping up to be the most revolutionary component of electric cars.
Read on below with the experts at Jerry
as we dive in to just how much the skateboard changed about cars as we know it, and what's in store for the future of the automotive world. Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to EV batteries
One of the foremost perks to the skateboard design for drivers is the increased cabin and storage space inside the vehicle. In combustion engine vehicles, the mechanics that typically take up tons of space are no longer there, meaning automakers can get creative with what to do with it.
On the flip side to adding more storage, cars like Citroën’s electric Ami eliminate that space entirely to produce an ultra-compact two-seater car that can park just about anywhere. The Ami will launch in Europe at less than £8,000. In France, you won’t even need a driver’s license to pilot one as long as you’re over the age of 14.
The growing popularity of electric cars and their flexible mechanics could be the one thing that causes U.S. buyers to shift away from bigger cars. Smaller cars with fewer parts also mean reducing the amount of waste created at the end of a car’s life, something that manufacturers are finding increasingly necessary to shrink their respective footprints.
Mark Adams, design director for Vauxhall-Opel, told The Guardian “The days of the growing cars forever more are gone. We don’t need to have massive footprint cars any more.”
MORE: Disruptive AI Technology Is Changing Car Insurance for the Better
What else could change
As driver-assistance technology improves, some experts think that the steering wheel itself could be the next thing to go. The overall cleaner, less complicated look of cars of the future will be less geared towards driver controls and more suited for leisure.
When speculating on what the design of a fully-autonomous car
could look like, Adams said, “if you then switch it to full autonomous you don’t necessarily need to stay in that same position.” Carmakers are calling these new interiors with features like swiveling chairs and banquette seating “living space on wheels.”
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