British company Watt Electric Vehicle Company (WEVC) introduced its first electric vehicle. Sports dvuhdverka designed in the spirit of the Porsche 356, the first car of the German brand.
The new car, named WEVC Coupe, has been tested on the race track for ten months. There are still a few months ahead, which are allotted for bringing the design to the ideal, after which the company will begin to assemble 21 copies for individual orders. First deliveries are scheduled for early 2022.
The design is based on the PACES chassis (Passenger And Commercial EV Skateboard, a platform for passenger and commercial electric vehicles) developed by WEVC. It is a skateboard made of glued aluminum profiles. This is not only a load-bearing base of the body, but also a battery compartment that is installed in the floor for a lower center of gravity.
WEVC founder and owner Neil Yates points out that he did not use complex molded parts in his car. Instead, a simple profiled aluminum pipe is used almost everywhere. Thanks to this, it is possible to significantly reduce the cost of production.
Body panels are molded from carbon fiber. Despite the fact that the WEVC Coupe is similar to the Porsche 356, the novelty still differs from it in forms. And it's not just intellectual property and responsibility for copying without a license: over the past 70 years (Porsche 356 came out in 1948), the possibilities of aerodynamic development of the body have stepped far forward, so that the shape has been optimized in terms of streamlining.
Since the coupe weighs less than a ton due to the use of aluminum and carbon fiber (the exact weight has not yet been reported), the need for a heavy-duty motor has disappeared. As a result, the British installed a 163-horsepower electric motor. It is powered by a 40 kWh lithium-ion battery. The estimated cruising range is 370 km according to the WLTP cycle.
WEVC Coupe is capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in about 5 seconds. By today's standards, not such an outstanding result, but Yates admits that he never set himself the goal of achieving maximum dynamics on a straight line. Instead, he and the engineering team focused on handling and feel. The electric car is equipped with an independent suspension with double wishbones.
At first glance, the wheels are far from sporty: the diameter of the 16-inch wheels and the profile of the tires are 60% more reminiscent of a Toyota Camry in the simplest configuration than a European sports car with refined handling. But since this format was chosen by the engineers, then this definitely makes some sense.
The WEVC Coupe is asking for a minimum of £81,250.
The British have developed an electric sports car in the spirit of the classic Porsche
