Someone's Built An 'Off-The-Shelf' EV Platform For Niche Sports Car Firms

The motoring industry’s electric revolution could leave a lot of small volume, niche manufacturers behind. Sure, many deal in small enough numbers to potentially dodge any internal combustion bans in the near future, but for firms pinning their hopes on going plug-in, the high costs involved will be prohibitive.

That’s where the Watt Electric Vehicle Company comes in. The newly formed British company, based in Cornwall, is offering a solution - “a state-of-the-art, cost-effective, lightweight modular EV platform,” it says.

The work of a chap called Neil Yates, the Passenger And Commercial EV Skateboard (PACES for short) is billed as an “off-the-shelf” solution for small and mid-sized companies wanting to avoid ploughing hundreds of thousands or even millions into their own platform.

It’s made of flat, lightweight interlocking pieces, meaning it can be made as big or small as the customer company fancies. Whether they want a small sports car, a bigger passenger vehicle or even something like a bus, they’re covered. The architecture can adopt either front, rear or all-wheel drive powertrain layouts, and be put together by the purchasing firm without needing expensive tooling, Watt says.

Watt will be using the PACES platform for its own electric sports car simply called ‘Coupe’. The rear-wheel drive creation, which has some strong Porsche 356 vibes, will use a 40kWh battery pack and have a 50:50 weight distribution.

We aren’t told how powerful it is, but we do know it’ll weigh under a tonne and have a range of up to 230 miles. A full reveal is promised in the coming weeks.