Although Volvo had previously said it will no longer introduce new station wagon models, it appears a turnaround is on the way as the Swedish brand’s new platform could see its future EV models ride closer to the ground and not necessarily have the height of an SUV. Coach.
The platform known as SPA3 is first used on the EX60 which made its debut in January this year, and has been developed for significantly greater technical flexibility and so that the vehicle’s battery capacity does not determine the vehicle’s height, the report said.
This is possible because the SPA3 platform was created from the ground up for electric vehicles, rather than being adapted from an ICE-powered vehicle platform, which is the case with its predecessor, the SPA2, which supports the EX90 and ES90, thus offering greater freedom in moving components and structures for different designs, according to Anders Bell, head of technology at Volvo.
His “job in technology is to provide options for the company,” Bell said Coach. We can make [cars] high. We can make them low. It’s all about scalability and this is unlocked by taking the combustion engine, the exhaust, fuel tanks and everything out of the equation, and finding new ways to build the bone structure and the scalability of the platform,” he said.
Packaging restrictions for EVs on custom ICE-based platforms are one reason why EVs in general are getting wider, because to increase capacity the battery packs will have to be made wider laterally, Bell said. The SPA3 platform offers new packaging capabilities that will allow the next generation of Volvo EVs to more closely resemble the width, height and silhouette of traditional ICE-powered cars, he said.
When a vehicle’s front crash structure is not shaped to accommodate an engine, as would be the case with a fully built-up BEV design, there is more flexibility to position the battery cells over the underbody and in front of the front bulkhead, and therefore the battery does not need to be strictly within the wheelbase.
The SPA3 platform moves the meeting point between the battery and the front crash structure forward, so Volvo can move seven kilowatts – at least and probably more – of the pack further forward, while still doing all the crazy Volvo crash stuff,” Bell said.
Placing battery cells in front of the windscreen frees up space for ‘pedestrian garages’, such as in the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT, allowing the seating position to be closer to that of a conventional combustion engine car. In a lower car, you can depopulate the cells in the rear footwell because this essentially defines the lowest height of a car: the rear seat passenger,” Bell told the publication.
“If you have an evenly flat package throughout the length of the vehicle, you get this fine. That’s why so many of the [BEVs based on ICE platforms] look like baby SUVs even though they’re trying to be low,” Bell continued. This could theoretically open the door for the return of a sedan and wagon to the EX60, although that depends on demand.
“You can achieve this fantastic bandwidth so we can make super slim cars, as if there’s no battery pack affecting the height of the roof,” Bell said.
Do you want to sell your car? Sell it with Auto.
#Volvo #station #wagons #SPA3 #platform #enables #flexible #packaging #lowerriding #models #paultan.org