What would an ideal car chassis look like?
In 2002, GM first proposed the concept of "skateboard chassis" in the industry, and GM did not worry about its livelihood at that time, and it had a huge brain hole and strong creativity. This concept was first incorporated into a concept body called Hy-wire.
The concept car has two labels, one is hydrogen-powered and the other is "skateboard chassis". It lays the entire hydrogen powertrain flat over the entire chassis and makes the chassis skateboard-like. This scheme has two very big advantages, first, the vehicle's center of gravity is very low, which can ensure excellent handling stability performance; second, the upper part of the chassis is a pure plane, which has very little interference with the interior space of the car, and there will be no nasty defects such as central bulge.
This concept was highly valued within the GM Group at the time, and even Lawrence Burns, then vice president of GM, took time out of his busy schedule to take a group photo with the "skateboard chassis".
Looking through the materials of the time, Lawrence Burns spoke highly of it, describing his shock when he first saw the "skateboard chassis": "The key expertise is no longer mechanical, nor electric engine, nor wire control, but software", "We demonstrated how to lift the lightweight body from the chassis and replace it with another body", "At that moment, I felt the future, felt the changes that technology will bring to Detroit and the entire automotive industry".
You know, this is a matter of 2002, when Tesla has not yet skimmed the eight characters, because Musk is still engaged in PayPal, that is, the electronic payment that later made Ma Yun rich!
But 20 years ago, in an era when the internal combustion engine was absolutely mainstream, the skateboard chassis became a distant design. The reason is simple, the engine, the gearbox and the cooling system that comes with it, so that these big guys can not be tucked into the flat chassis anyway, so the designer with the dream can only give up. Later, as GM was on the verge of bankruptcy due to the financial crisis, this avant-garde technology declined due to lack of financial support.
But no one expected that 20 years later, the advent of the era of automobile electrification will truly pull the "skateboard chassis" from the dream into reality. As we all know, electric vehicles are composed of three major components: batteries, motors and electronic control systems, and although their volume is also not small, they can be made into a flat shape, which can be integrated with the spatial characteristics of the "skateboard chassis".
If all the external configuration of the vehicle is abandoned, only a chassis and the necessary handling and riding functions are retained, then the authentic "skateboard chassis" vehicle should look like the above. The average and extremely low center of gravity and the perfect front and rear counterweight ratios provide a great sport handling experience, similar to driving a go-kart.
According to the philosophy of Lawrence Burns, vice president of general motors, the "skateboard chassis" with this technology can also easily replace the shell and interior above. For example, if you want to go to the supermarket to buy something today and need a large storage space, you can change to the shell and interior of the SUV, and if you need to receive important customers, you can change to the shell and interior of the luxury car.
If this model is really accepted by the majority of automakers, then the entire automotive industry will present another picture. Automakers only need to focus on the integration between the chassis of the vehicle and the vehicle and the hull, and as for the design of the casing and interior, it can be confidently and boldly handed over to third-party brands. If the interface between different brands is opened, then users can get greater DIY permissions.
This seems to be a fantasy at present.
However, the progress of science and technology has always been quiet, and the concept of "skateboard chassis" has actually been used in mass production models, such as Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, but they are only primary products, and they cannot realize the function of shell interchange.
Just imagine, in the future, you have two car shells, you can choose at will when you go out, isn't it interesting?