And it looks like it'll be worth the wait.
As promised, Aston Martin's capital markets day for investors at the end of last month revealed plenty of new details about the luxury automaker's future products, with the main focus certainly on electrification and how to make such products exciting. Chief technology officer Roberto Fedeli told Auto Express that Aston Martin's future EVs will have four motors, with a twin-motor design for the front axle, similar to what will appear on next year's Valhalla.
“We are learning how to develop the front twin-motor axle for the next generation,” said Fedeli, adding, “A characteristic that we like very much about Lucid's components is the size. The size of the component is very well suited to our platform.”
He went on to explain that Aston Martin wants “to be able to create [electric] cars with a roof height of a little bit less than the Vantage.”
In order to achieve that, battery modules likely won't be packaged in the typical way, where they are sandwiched in the floor. It should be possible to place these in various parts of the car, and again, that will be enabled by Lucid technology. Lucid CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson says that his company's drive units, small enough to fit inside a carry-on suitcase, are highly power dense: “Hyundai is at 1.1 horsepower per kilogram, a Tesla Model S Plaid is about 3.9 hp per kg, we're at 9 hp per kg, so over twice as much. Our racing power unit looking towards the future is near to 17.”
Any doubts about Lucid's ability to supply technology to a premium legacy automaker like Aston will surely be put to bed, and more OEMs will doubtless soon take advantage.
Fedeli then spoke further about the quad-motor setup, making a comparison about four-wheel torque vectoring in an electric vehicle versus in something like the DBX707. While the horsepower figure was a big headline-grabber, it's the suspension, chassis, and torque vectoring changes that really set it apart from the regular DBX. Auto Express asked if the comparison between Aston Martin's first EV and the DBX707 was significant and if the automaker's first EV would be an SUV, and Fedeli nodded.
“Our target is to see the first mule running by the beginning of next year, the first mule to represent the platform – the most complicated model we want to develop on the platform has to be on the road by the beginning of next year,” said Fedeli. “By the end of summer, we are going to have the full powertrain on the test bench. We did the concept phase of the platform last year, this year we are completing this phase, and then we are going to start testing.”
Finally, Aston reiterated that Formula 1 will influence future models, and that will extend to aerodynamic developments too. “We have some ideas about blowing the wake at the tailgate of the car in order to reduce the drag as much as possible,” said Fedeli. “We are going to reduce the drag by 50%, and this is what we need in order to avoid making the car heavy because of the energy we need on board for range.”
So although Aston's first EV will be an SUV, it and other electric products will feature novel aero aids that bring airflow from the front of the car, spewing it out the back at speed to “destroy the vortex,” which “means a huge reduction in drag,” according to Fedeli.
Coupled with Pirelli's new Cyber Tyre and novel brakes from Brembo, which control the pistons in the calipers electronically to reduce drag, Aston should be able to build EVs that are immensely power dense, light, and efficient, both in terms of power consumption and aerodynamic flow.
Keyword: Aston Martin's First EV Will Be An SUV In 2025