DS Automobiles has presented the prototype DS E-Tense Performance, a technology carrier for the development of future electric DS models. The electric coupé also gives a preview of the future design language of DS Automobiles, especially with its front.
The vehicle is purely a concept car, not a preview of a concrete production model. The prototype is based on a carbon shell and has two electric motors with a total of 600 kW (250 kW at the front and 350 kW at the rear). The motors, which originate from DS Performance’s developments for Formula E, accelerate the prototype from 0 to 100 km/h in two seconds.
What is unusual, however, is that the recuperation power, according to the announcement, is also exactly 600 kW – more usual here is a third to half of the drive power. With the enormously high recuperation power, the drivetrain of the DS E-Tense Performance is intended to focus “on the best possible use of energy”, according to DS. According to the company, the disc brakes installed in the prototype were only installed for safety reasons. Braking is actually to be electric only.
The concept car’s battery was developed in collaboration with TotalEnergies and its subsidiary Saft – Saft is also a partner in the planned Stellantis and Daimler battery cells in the ACC joint venture. The battery in the DS E-Tense Performance features an unspecified “innovative chemical composition” and immersion cooling of the cells. This should enable the battery to repeatedly deliver and absorb 600 kW. This makes it possible to “break new ground for future generations of DS production vehicles”.
Another special feature: instead of being located in the underbody, as is usually the case, the battery in the study sits centrally in the rear. It is housed in a carbon-fibre/aluminium composite shell developed by the Formula E department. DS does not provide information on the energy content and weight of the battery – the installation in the rear is likely to influence the driving behaviour.
“Our objective is to apply the experience acquired in Formula E and the expertise that we’ve taken from our international titles to a project which predicts the high-performance electric car of tomorrow,” says Thomas Chevaucher, director of DS Performance. “It is a laboratory that we will use to analyse the behaviour of components and to develop them with a view to future manufacturing. The idea is also to find solutions to lower costs, make them easier to manufacture and explore implementations in production models. The next generations of the E-TENSE range will benefit from these developments.”
Keyword: DS presents 600 kW concept prototype