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Williams Makes the Jump from Formula 1 to EVs with Revolutionary Platform

Williams Advanced Engineering is the kind of company you call upon when nobody else can make your car go any faster. With its Formula One background and years of experience, its engineers will always find a way to squeeze more power out of an engine.
Williams Advanced Engineering's FW-EVX platform 6 photos
Photo: Williams Advanced Engineering
Williams Advanced Engineering's FW-EVX platformWilliams Advanced Engineering's FW-EVX platformWilliams Advanced Engineering's FW-EVX platformWilliams Advanced Engineering's FW-EVX platformWilliams Advanced Engineering's FW-EVX platform
More recently, the team had become involved in Formula E as well, all the way up to last year when McLaren snatched the contract from them. They used to build the battery packs for the all-electric competition and it looks like even though they're out of it now, there's still a bit has rubbed onto them.

Now, Williams is building a battery factory in the UK where it will manufacture the packs for Aston Martin's RapidE, but with only 155 of the electric British sports car to be built, the team needed another challenge.

Letting all that expertise on making racing chassis go to waste would have been a shame, so Williams has also been working on a new vehicle platform. Only this one won't be winning any Grand Prix titles. Instead, it's supposed to offer a perfect foundation for electric vehicles.

The team says that the FW-EVX will make for lighter, safer, and more efficient EVs. If you go into the details, you start getting an idea where all that is coming from. With battery-powered cars, efficiency is the word of the day, so Williams focused on making the platform as light as possible.

The engineers have come up with a new process for fabricating reinforced carbon fiber suspension components, which they claim are 40 percent lighter than traditional aluminum parts and at least just as durable. On top of it, the process is completely automated and produces nearly zero waste, which is always something EV customers care about (or at least they should).

“Vehicle efficiency has always been core to Williams – whether it be in Formula One or with Williams Advanced Engineering’s customer projects," said Paul McNamara, Williams Advance Engineering Technical Director. "These technologies, and our thinking around how to create a tightly integrated, light-weight chassis and powertrain package, have the potential to greatly increase the competitiveness of the next generation of electric vehicles. By making EVs more attractive to consumers, we can help accelerate their adoption and the air quality benefits they bring.”

The modular FW-EVX platform is still considered a concept, so there are no concrete plans on what to do with it in the future. The obvious choice would be to sell it to the companies that have failed to invest in their own EV technology so far, but with so many exotic materials being used - on top of the already expensive batteries - it could end up being too expensive for mass-market models. Nevertheless, it's good to see performance-oriented companies with ancient ties to the world of internal combustion engines get involved in the EV business.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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