Three automotive firms have joined forces to create "a new powerhouse in low-volume EV design, engineering and manufacturing" with headquarters in Cornwall and the West Midlands.
The new company, Watt EV Holdings Ltd, is made up of Cornish firm Watt Electric Vehicle Company (WEVC), Worcestershire-based vehicle architecture developer Stalcom and R&D outfit JSC Automotive.
The three firms will now work together as one entity to design, engineer and sell low-volume electric vehicles for both the passenger and commercial sectors. It will also offer those services for third-party companies looking to put an EV into small-scale production, thereby removing the need for them to invest heavily in developing a bespoke platform and carrying out a lengthy development programme for relatively small-scale products.
The partnership centres around WEVC's innovative PACES (Passenger and Commercial EV Skateboard) platform, a laser-cut structure featuring extruded aluminium elements – which lock together using Stalcom's cost-friendly 'FlexTech' bonding method – and described as "low investment, low weight, flexible and scalable".
Watt Electric Vehicles says PACES can be deployed in EVs of almost all shapes and sizes – "from sports cars to buses" – and can accommodate front-, rear- and all-wheel-drive powertrain layouts. The lithium ion batteries within the structure will be sourced from an unnamed "tier one" automotive supplier.
The new company's chief commercial officier Neil Yates, founder and CEO of WEVC, said: "We have multiple suppliers for battery and high-voltage components as our customers have a wide range of requirements for their vehicles, from last mile delivery and commercial applications through to high performance sportscars. As such the battery requirements catered for by our platform range from 48-800V."
As reported last year, Watt will build light commercial EVs for domestic and export markets at a new factory in the West Midlands with an annual capacity of 5000 units. The first of these vehicles (teased above) is said to be undergoing testing now ahead of a reveal in the third quarter of 2022 and a production start date of 2024.
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