A boom in the production of electric cars is all but imminent. It may take two, five or ten years, but the proliferation of EVs in large numbers is something everyone is anticipating. Instead of building their own line, a company called Trexa decided to go the other way – producing a development platform for EVs, so that even smaller garages and builders can begin putting together their own.
Yep, an EV platform with a complete drivetrain enclosed in a low-profile structure. Want to build a Batmobile that runs on battery power? Design the body for hoisting over the thing and you’ve got yourself a superhero ride. The company is going so far as to provide a developer’s kit for those interested on building cars for the platform, which comes with a docking system, steering wheel, pedalbox and CAD models. The actual process probably isn’t as simple as I made that sound, but it should prove far easier than constructing an electric car from scratch.
The Trexa electric vehicle platform includes everything you need to jumpstart your dream mains-powered ride, including an AWD system, the driveline, batteries and electronics. Their standard platform offers a top speed of 100mph, 0 to 60 acceleration of 8 seconds, a 105 mile range and recharging time of four hours. Sure, it doesn’t sound like the kind of sport performer that will leave you drooling, but for a tuning garage with EV ambitions, it could prove to be the most delicious thing since pancakes. Well, pancakes with bacon on the side.
According to the company, the platform is highly scalable, so all vital characteristics such as top speed, acceleration, range, suspension and torque can be tailored to suit any specific request. They’ll take care of the innards, so you only have to worry about the rest. Basically, just work out some mechanical stuff, slap a body on that thing and go.
To put it simply, Trexa is looking at making EV production a modular process. We’re not sure how well that will work out, but if this concept proves solid (as in, it really does streamline vehicle production considerably), this could be the start of something huge (you know, like pancakes).