New mobility: electric car design

An electric drive takes up less space than a combustion engine. This gives new scope for design.

The electric drive gives car designers unprecedented freedom of design. The Stromer are still optically very much in the tradition of classic combustion engines, but that is slowly changing. 

You don't have to change anything

Electric car design is currently in an evolutionary phase - at least if you listen to Volvo chief designer Robin Page. The Briton has just accompanied the market launch of the electric XC40 Recharge and the compact crossover C40 - cars whose special drive can only be recognized by the lack of cooling air openings on the front grille. The reason for renouncing stylistic revolution in this case is simple: the technical basis of both models is essentially an internal combustion platform, so it must also provide space for diesel, gasoline or plug-in hybrid drives.

So-called multi-purpose platforms such as those used by Volvo are currently used in the majority of new electric cars. They cannot fully exploit the space-saving advantages of electrical architecture, as they have to reserve space for combustion engines, auxiliary units, hydraulic lines, cardan shafts and the exhaust system. This is not necessary with pure e-car platforms. There, the space under the sheet metal benefits the passengers much more. Only the electric motor and battery have to be accommodated. 

Relation to old models

Some manufacturers give the E variants special attachments, decorative elements or special paints. Page does without this in the C40, instead even making an aesthetic reference to the pre-electrical past. For example, the P1800 from the 1960s was the inspiration for the crossover coupé. “If you use the legacy of a design icon as a source of ideas for creating a new, future-oriented model, it is important that we don't just create a modernized remake of a retro vehicle,” explains Page. "Customers' tastes and needs change over time, so we need to carry DNA into a new age."

Where Volvo has a more contemporary future in mind, other automakers are already going a step further. The extent to which the new technical freedoms can have an impact on the appearance of a car is currently shown most clearly by the Mercedes EQS, which is the brand's first car to be on a special Stromer platform. "Thanks to the new architecture, we were able to break away from the classic design language of the luxury class and create something radically new," says Head of Design Gorden Wagener, explaining the unusual proportions with the short bonnet, the dome-shaped passenger compartment and the round hatchback. 

Functional parts

At least one or the other conservative S-Class buyer should have to nibble on the avant-garde design. But Wagener doesn't want to scare him off completely. The EQS at least has a leftover bonnet, even if it no longer has any real function and cannot be opened. “I think that's more beautiful formally; the hood gives the vehicle more balance, ”says Wagener. A judgment that, in his opinion, also applies to the near future of electric vehicles. 

In addition to optical considerations, there are other reasons for design reluctance. Even the most futuristic car must meet the same crash requirements as its more conventional contemporaries. Crumple zones and comparatively soft impact surfaces for pedestrians make a leftover bonnet useful. But there are also other practical considerations: If the hood were to be completely dispensed with, the windshield would have to span the space gained, which would lead to an increase in its surface area and excessive heating of the interior when exposed to sunlight. The temperature would then have to be cooled down with a large amount of energy, which would reduce the range. 

New arrangement

The most extreme form of e-car design can therefore currently be found in a niche: with the robo-shuttles. The box shape, copied from the bus, has established itself there. The drive and batteries are located in a skateboard-like base plate, on which is a space-saving box structure. Because the shuttles drive autonomously, at least in perspective, and only at low speeds, the requirements for crash safety are less stringent. So far, such models - such as the Origin from Cruise or the VW Sedric - are only on the road in trial use. On the other hand, the two-seater miniature Citroen Ami, which has adapted the space-saving and spacious box design for the private customer market, is already on sale. The result is not a beautiful city car in the classic sense, but at least one that is eye-catching. 

Nevertheless, most private customers are unlikely to want to use an unadorned cube in the future. The design of the next generation of electric cars must therefore find a good compromise between a generous sense of space and a pleasing shape. Volvo-Gestalter Page is sure that it will work. “With the coming, purely electric vehicle generations, we will get an impression of what will be possible in the future”.

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