Leading automotive engineering firm BorgWarner has converted an Ariel Nomad off-roader into a fully electric vehicle.
The one-off machine was produced as a showcase for electric powertrain technology developed by the US company and its partners. It swaps the 235bhp Honda-built 2.5-litre petrol engine usually found in the Nomad for an electric system that uses two motors to deliver a total of 268bhp.
The converted Nomad is rear-wheel drive, with each motor independently driving a rear wheel through two separate eDriveGear gear sets managed by torque vectoring. BorgWarner says the set-up offers “more power and durability”. The motors draw power from a liquid-cooled 350V 30kWh power pack.
BorgWarner says the machine’s extensive use of torque vectoring through the electric powertrain improves steering response, and allows for regenerative braking to extend range.
The British-built Nomad was chosen for the project in part because the open-top design makes it easy for BorgWarner’s team to easily install and remove components, and it is purely intended as a one-off showcase.
Hakan Yilmaz, BorgWarner’s tech boss, said the converted Nomad was a “high-voltage demonstration” that “gives us a fantastic tool to showcase our extensive capabilities, collaborate with industry partners and evaluate current and future technology at a system level”.
Ariel was not involved in the project, and is currently working on a fully electric machine of its own: a 1180bhp supercar.
Read more
Join the debate
Add your comment
Moved on from automatic gearboxes
I take it this is the same company that seemed to have cornered the market in slushmatic tranmissions in the 60s and 70s. I seem to remember whatever British make of car, Triumph, Rover, Jaguar anything from BMC and the Roots Group, if it was offered as an automatic, it was always a power-sapping 3 speeder from this company!