The “skateboard” electric vehicle (EV) platform offers OEMs a number of flexible design benefits, but it also promises to change how technicians approach vehicle repairs.
“It really opens up all kinds of design possibilities, because you’re not trying to design around the powertrain or the chassis anymore,” said Mark Quarto in a recent webinar, “Electric Vehicle Skateboard Chassis: Coming to You Now!” Quarto is a consultant to webinar presenter FutureTech, which recently relaunched its Access OnDemand electrified vehicle training program. Quarto, who is chief technical officer of Quarto Technical Services, has more than 30 years of experience in engineering and consulting for OEM and aftermarket companies, and he specializes in electrified vehicle technologies.
It is the skateboard’s simplicity and flexibility that have made it popular with relative newcomer EV OEMs such as Canoo, Lucid, and Rivian, Quarto said. Tesla’s Model S debuted for the 2012 model year as the first production car to use a type of skateboard architecture. But the skateboard design dates to 1999, when GM developed its first skateboard concept car, the Autonomy, followed three years later by the Hy-wire van. While those concepts were both hydrogen fuel cell-powered, they showed how a flat platform with a central fuel cell or battery could be scaled to offer various-length wheelbases and mount a variety of different body types on one chassis, using in-hub electric motors to power each wheel.
Skateboard design may revolutionize repairs
“I think technicians have a real advantage here, because there are going to be fewer chassis setups and they will be easier to work on,” Quarto said. He pointed out some components can be more easily accessed by removing the body.
“I think most maintenance and service is still going to be done with the body on, but I think there are ways that you could utilize the body coming off to make a job go faster.”
With the skateboard’s scalability and tunability features, a smaller number of common platforms can accommodate a wide range of vehicles, from sedans, to crossovers, to pickups. That can lower cost for OEMs, and it promises to simplify some aspects of service and repair.
“I think having the common drivetrains and chassis is good for techs, because it reduces the number of systems you have to work on,” Quarto said.
The battery, which is integrated into the central part of the chassis, can also be scaled to increase or decrease the kilowatt-hour capacity.
“Both the powertrain and the chassis are software-tunable,” Quarto said. “So the torque, the handling, and ride of the vehicle can be tuned through software.”
Vehicles are currently legislated to use hydraulic braking systems, which require plumbing for that system that would impede easily removing the body from the chassis. But the technology already exists for electric braking within in-wheel motor assemblies (also known as hub motors), such as from Protean, which eliminate axles or driveshafts with assemblies that are self-contained within the wheel. Quarto pointed out that electric braking would allow a technician to lift the body from the chassis in only about 30 minutes after disconnecting a handful of connectors and removing perhaps 10 bolts.
Additional foundational training will be required to repair
But at the same time a skateboard EV’s mechanical components will become easier to access and repair, more training will be needed for the increasing complexity of electrical and electronics components, Quarto said.
“Technicians are going to need some flexible skills,” he said. “It’s going to be more about knowing about technology and less about a product.”
He recommends technicians learn foundational electrical skills on battery packs and three-, six-, and nine-phase motors. But, they will also need foundational skills in electronics and software, including networking. Quarto said Ethernet will replace Controller Area Network (CAN) bus networks. Components on these vehicles are highly integrated and expensive, he added.
“Start getting fluent in those skills: knowing schematic symbols, knowing more about network systems, knowing more about even writing and encoding some software, maybe not at an engineering level, but at least at a working knowledge level so that you can manipulate systems when you need to.”
