Williams Advanced Engineering

Williams Advanced Engineering

Williams Advanced Engineering

Williams Advanced Engineering

Other than Ferrari, no Formula 1 team has won more World Constructor Championships than Frank Williams' eponymous organization. In fact, it's responsible for a car that many agree was the most technologically advanced F1 racer ever to turn a wheel, the active suspension FW14B. Success at the track has been hard to come by in recent years—Williams last won a race in 2012—but designing and building race cars isn't the only thing that happens at its base in Oxfordshire, England. Williams Advanced Engineering, a sister business to the F1 team, has just revealed a rather clever new electric vehicle platform.

The new platform is called the FW-EVX, and it's an integrated design that includes the batteries and their associated cooling, suspension for up to four motors, and crash structures in a scalable design that could be used in midsize or larger electric vehicles. What makes the FW-EVX particularly interesting is that it's extremely lightweight, thanks to extensive use of carbon fiber, not just structurally but also in the suspension.

"An electric vehicle constructed on the FW-EVX platform can be lighter, safer, greener and much more cost-effective... than a design adapted from a conventional vehicle or one assembled from individual state-of-the-art systems from technology supplier," said Paul McNamara, technical director at Williams Advanced Engineering.

Some clever aspects of the platform include using high-strength battery modules that contribute to the overall strength and stiffness of the "skateboard"-style chassis. Here, Williams used some of the know-how it gained building the batteries for Formula E cars. "We have invented a method of creating an engineered hinge embedded in a single composite preform that allows 3D structures to be created from 2D materials, then folded when required, called 223TM, and it opens up the potential to use new types of assembly processes alongside much lower cost, more flexible logistics," explained McNamara.

A honeycomb of interlocking composite boxes contains the cells. Each box is manufactured as a sheet, then folded and bonded into the right shape to create the larger battery pack. Additionally, there is a heat sink built into the floor to reduce the demand for cold air through the cooling system and a method of inferring battery cell temperatures that means there's no need to monitor individual cells.

Even the suspension wishbones have benefited from a rethink. Here, they're made from carbon composites (80 percent of which are recycled), press-formed into shape in just 90 seconds. Williams says that the parts cost no more than conventional ones forged from aluminum, yet weigh 40 percent less. In total, the FW-EVX weighs just 2,193lbs (995kg), including a 772lb (350kg) 80kWh battery pack.

Listing image by Williams Advanced Engineering