It’s an insane time to be alive because a Williams Advanced Engineering will now happily sell you a 2,200-horsepower, all-electric platform, called EVR, on which you can build your crazy dream car.
Years of technology projects and building Formula 1 and Formula E cars means that Williams has more than enough know-how to create a car from scratch. There is no vehicle development cycle more advanced or punishing than modern racing. And while Williams has a brand that’s historically well known for its technology, it’s not a brand that anyone would necessarily buy a car from.
It’s therefore brilliant and not at all unexpected that Williams has created a platform like the EVR to help “accelerate the ambitions of hypercar manufacturers, from start-ups to OEMs.”
There are a lot of would-be hypercar makers out there, from well-established brands like Pininfarina to upstarts like Austrian company Deus.
The stats are appropriately bonkers: 2,200 hp (well, 2,212 hp when you convert kW into hp), a sub-2.0-second 0-60 mph time, top speed of more than 248 mph, and a range beyond 279 miles. These are the kinds of numbers I’d normally ignore if it weren’t from a completely reasonable source.
If you were curious, these are basically identical to the specs of the Italdesign-penned Deus Vayanne, which is the first vehicle I know of to have the EVR underneath.
So what do you get? The EVR example shown (these can be adjusted based on what the OEM wants) shows a complete chassis with a rear/mid-mounted battery behind the passenger compartment. In this version it’s an 85 kWh battery with all the necessary management systems. Placing it behind the passengers is smart and gives it dynamics similar to most mid-engined hypercars, as opposed to a skateboard approach with batteries in the floor.
Upfront there’s a bolt-on crash module and a wicked looking pushrod suspension that’s extremely racy and F1-inspired, though the Ariel Atom and Lamborghini Aventador also use a pushrod setup.
The company says they’re offering it in various forms:
EVR can support a range of electric hypercar configurations, from track-only vehicles where power-to-weight is maximised to roadgoing models, both open-roof Targa and fixed-roof GT architectures. This is made possible by the architecture’s central tub which has been designed from day one to allow for such flexibility, including open roof design, whilst still featuring the very latest performance technology such as active aerodynamics.
Again, Williams isn’t going to have their own brand, this is just while label production work for other people who will eventually add a steering wheel made from the rarest elk foreskin, or whatever, to cover the cost. Williams says they can tool up a concept in 12 months and a production car in just two years if the checks clear.
They’re looking for partners, so all you need is a dream in your heart and probably a few million dollars in startup capital.
What would you do with such a platform? Obviously, I’ll take a 2,200-horsepower, rear-wheel drive street targa el camino please!
