African EV Manufacturer Goes For Dassault Systemes V6 PLM Solution

Everybody is going electric, and South Africa is no exception from that rule. Car manufacturer Optimal Energy, whose electric vehicle is on display at the Geneva Auto Show, has just announced that it will rely on Dassault Systèmes CATIA and ENOVIA V6 for product design and data management.

“There are not many electric cars on the market at the moment, but most of the concepts that have been seen are quite small cars,” said Anton Greeff, Chief Mechanical Engineer, Optimal Energy. “Ours is built to be an urban driving solution that’s comfortable with a distinctive and attractive design.” Several prototypes of Joule are already on the road, and the car will be available for sale to the public at the end of 2012.

“Perfectly targeted toward the automotive market, the DS solutions have sped up our learning curve tremendously,” said Greeff.

As most of Optimal Energy’s automotive suppliers are located in Europe or the Far East, the company chose ENOVIA V6’s integrated collaboration platform to provide "all actors with an access to a single version of the truth", from initial requirements to production. “Everything is in the same platform and interconnected. If someone needs information on the product, there is only one place they have to go and look,” said Anton Greeff.

“As a young company, Optimal Energy needed to make a strong impression in a market already dominated by car manufacturing veterans. That Optimal Energy chose V6 to express its fervent commitment to protect the environment as well as its desire to build a car that is truly an alternative to most electric vehicles on the market today is something we are very pleased with,” said Laurent Couillard, vice president PLM value selling EMEA, Dassault Systèmes.