In this week's whisperings from the corridors of motoring, we learn about high-profile staff changes at Seat and Ford, why Jaguar's EV batteries are heavier than Tesla's and more.
Platform alteration
Seat’s former R&D chief is now the Volkswagen Group’s platform chief, with responsibility for the group’s MQB and MEB structures. Matthias Rabe will be supervising 12,000 engineers, up from the 1000 he shepherded at Seat.
Next on the Lister
Lister, the British sports car maker with longstanding ties to Jaguar Land Rover, has reportedly been offered the tooling to build the recently axed Range Rover Coupé. Autocar understands that while the firm was tempted by the offer, it was prioritising its new product roll-out, including a new version of the Knobbly sports car.
RS engineer shifts Focus
Tyrone Johnson, former Ford RS chief engineer and Engineering Hero winner at the 2016 Autocar awards, has a new role at HyundaiKia. He has been named the new head of vehicle testing and development at the company's European technical centre.
How to cell
As the industry shifts to BEVs, different solutions to battery and chassis design are emerging. An independent engineer tells us the Jaguar I-Pace battery weighs 700kg, while the Tesla Model X’s 100kWh pack is 400kg. The difference? Jaguar protects its cells inside a cast alloy case. Audi takes a similar approach. Tesla surrounds the battery with alloy protection profiles.
Read more
All-new Lister Knobbly confirmed for production
Behind the scenes of Britain's battery revolution​
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Lister built Range Rover Coupe
Lister built Range Rover Coupe.
+ Does LISTER have the heavy/expensive presses, with which to use the tooling to produce body panels, or . . .
+ Did the offer involve JLR using the (to be transferred) tooling - in its own/JLR presses - and then shipping them to LISTER as CKD kits, or as “body-in-white”, after the panels were assembled by JLR?
Profiles
A profile can also be an extrusion, typically aluminium, of complex cross section. This can be made cheaply into a structure, eg see Lotus. Ironically Tesla has been criticised for its Body in White being too complex, using too many small panels which have to be fixed together with consequential cost and quality problems.
It is important that the batteries are protected given the risk of fire and explosion. If part of the chassis then the battery case can be part of the BIW structure. Tesla know how low weight is important to improve range but I can't imagine JLR doing a big heavy casting on the cheap without good reason - a CNC fabricated box could be much lighter and cheaper with no tooling costs.
A profile is usually a term
A profile is usually a term for shaping a material to add strength on the required axis, such as folding, ridges, rolled bends etc and using less material where its only protective but of less structural gain.
Tesla clearly engineered a solution, their cars have excellent safety ratings so its not an issue. JLR being cash strapped and short on time just did a cheap casting.. belts and braces approach.
The Apprentice wrote:
That would explain why the Tesla go up like a fireball on impact. Plus u think Jags are built on a budget while Tesla are built in makeshift tents by everyone including the execs and cleaners
so where is the recall by the authorities for these fireballs? oh there isn't one.
and the tents made by the company that was good enough to build space shuttles in.
The Apprentice wrote:
Elon Musk admitted that they had made design decisions that had proven costly to manufacture and were time consuming... That's the real reason their interiors are so minamilistic....
The Apprentice wrote:
What was Audi's excuse then? Audi and JLR, having seen how Tesla made their car went down a different route. Why was that?
Put this another way your in an electric car an it's hurtling into a crash, do you want to be in a Tesla or in a Jag or Audi designed by companies with about 150 years of car design experience between them....
TStag wrote:
Do you want to be in an EV car designed on a clean sheet of paper for its purpose.
Or one by an ICE manufacturer who will have saved money and effort by 'bodging' around an existing chassis to turn it into an EV and plonked some new panels on it.