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Williams and ItalDesign announce EV supercar chassis

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The high-dollar EV supercar business is absolutely booming right now, and brands both old and new are inundating the market with new models. It’s a good time to be an aspiring supercar mogul, especially with renowned race car constructor Williams and famed carrozzeria ItalDesign announcing their new collaboration — the EVX, a modular electric vehicle platform.

To be clear, the EVX isn’t a car. It’s just a platform. It’s a large battery pack and chassis, developed with Williams’ long expertise in making Formula One, Group B, and BTCC race cars. On top of the platform you can plop any number of bodies, from a sporty grand tourer to a sedan to a crossover to a convertible.

If you don’t have your own highly paid celebrity designer retired from the world of OEMs, ItalDesign can help with its looks. Then, they might even be able to build it for you depending on your volume.

The EVX uses a battery stack that Williams says was derived from motorsport, a reference to their Formula E machines. The stack is part of the carbon-composite chassis structure, serving as a structural component that benefits torsional rigidity ratings and absorption of crash loads, according to Williams.

The system uses an 800-volt architecture, similar to that of the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-Tron GT. It can support a variety of drivetrains, from two- to all-wheel-drive, and oriented toward either performance or range. Williams says it can support 1,000 kilowatts (1,340 horsepower) or kilometers, depending on the type of vehicle you want to make. Performance modules like Williams’ own torque vectoring can plug and play into the drivetrain. The 800-volt system has the ability take on 300 to 500 kW of boost charging, too.

Perhaps more importantly, the EVX supports a manufacturing system familiar to OEMs. It’s compatible with steel, aluminum or composite bodies, offering easy adaptation with existing assembly lines.

Williams and ItalDesign are targeting clients who want to build between 500 and 10,000 units. For numbers up to 500 units per year, ItalDesign can build them in-house, as it does with the Nissan-designed GT-R50. But, the firms are hoping that well-funded companies will use the chassis as a way to gain a foothold in the EV supercar world as well.

The EVX “is ideally suited to premium niche EV products,” said Paul McNamara, Technical Director at Williams Advanced Engineering, “It’s also applicable to OEMs and new market entrants.”

With Yamaha’s recent announcement that it’s developing EV supercar motors, pretty soon it’ll be possible to build your own limited-run electric hypercar. Just take the Williams chassis, a couple of Yamaha motors, an ItalDesign body and you’ll be good to go. As for the heritage and provenance behind the brand, well, you’re on your own. For now.

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