There are presently two ways to make an electric vehicle: you either use an existing platform, strip the ICE-related hardware and replace it with an EV one, or you build a brand new platform from scratch. The first method is of course the cheapest, but it doesn’t really ensure a family of electric vehicles, and this is why most established carmakers are looking into building new technologies.
Because making a new chassis from scratch is expensive, when they choose to come up with something new carmakers are usually willing to share, for a cost, and this is why we’ll soon have tens of EV models from different makes on the market underpinned by only a handful of platforms.
Karma Automotive, the de facto successor of Fisker Automotive, is one of the companies planning to make some money from selling both electrified vehicles to customers and the platform on which they are built for others to use.
On Tuesday, March 31, the California-based carmaker announced the availability of the E-Flex platform, one that in a certain configuration is presently used on the Revero GT.
Described as a fast-to-market chassis for cars ranging in shape, size and use from autonomously-driven utility vans to daily drivers and supercars, the E-Flex is supposed to be able to support 22 different configurations, covering a wide range of present-day needs for carmakers.
Karma says it will present an avalanche of possible uses for the platform in the coming weeks.
"We created a physical product that can be formatted into five different products, what others have called a one-dimensional skateboard, but what we call our E-Flex Platform, a multi-use solution," said in a statement Karma Automotive COO, Kevin Pavlov.
"There are up to 22 different possible configurations available, covering various battery-packaging variants and different drive motor drive systems. We can deliver a wide range of configurations dependent on the builder's priority."
Karma Automotive, the de facto successor of Fisker Automotive, is one of the companies planning to make some money from selling both electrified vehicles to customers and the platform on which they are built for others to use.
On Tuesday, March 31, the California-based carmaker announced the availability of the E-Flex platform, one that in a certain configuration is presently used on the Revero GT.
Described as a fast-to-market chassis for cars ranging in shape, size and use from autonomously-driven utility vans to daily drivers and supercars, the E-Flex is supposed to be able to support 22 different configurations, covering a wide range of present-day needs for carmakers.
Karma says it will present an avalanche of possible uses for the platform in the coming weeks.
"We created a physical product that can be formatted into five different products, what others have called a one-dimensional skateboard, but what we call our E-Flex Platform, a multi-use solution," said in a statement Karma Automotive COO, Kevin Pavlov.
"There are up to 22 different possible configurations available, covering various battery-packaging variants and different drive motor drive systems. We can deliver a wide range of configurations dependent on the builder's priority."