Order book opens for Swindon Powertrain’s High Power Density (HPD) EV system
28 May 2020
Customers can now order Swindon Powertrain’s High Power Density (HPD) EV system with deliveries starting in August. The 80kW production unit is smaller and lighter than the concept, making it suited for sports, recreation and light commercial applications as well as classic car conversions.
Prices start at £6,400 (US$7,900) +VAT for the 80kW motor, transmission and differential with options for cooling, inverters and limited slip differential also available. Deliveries to the first customers will commence in August 2020.
Devised as a response to the lack of compact engineered EV systems available to enthusiasts and smaller OEMs, Swindon Powertrain has refined and improved the HPD’s specification since it was first announced six months ago.
Weighing only 49.9 kg including lubricants, the HPD system features a brushless, permanent magnet motor, transmission, open differential and one meter of cabling. The package size is now just 441mm x 384mm x 228mm, making it the highest power/volume unit for automotive applications on sale.
With multiple installation points and now with the ability to site the inverter and cooling packs separately, as well as being waterproof, the HPD offers more flexibility to fit in a wide range of vehicles.
Enquiries to date have come from OEMs, low-volume manufacturers, classic car enthusiasts through to sports car and ATV recreational vehicle owners. Two inverter options, depending on battery voltage, are available though customers can also use their own. Depending on the tire size and top speed requirement, buyers can decide between two no-cost gear ratio options using Swindon Powertrain’s online free to use calculator.
Swindon Powertrain registered more than 400 requests for more information in the weeks after announcing the HPD project in 2019, with pre-orders taken and a number of OEMs committing to further R&D projects, including one for a hybrid e-axle application.
The reaction underlines the firm’s belief that both enthusiast DIY mechanics and niche OEMs are woefully underserved by traditional suppliers or must resort to scavenging parts from scrapped electric cars.
The average cost for motors at car makers is around $600,
adding gear reduction might bring the cost to $1000.
This price is high.
Posted by: SJC_1 | 28 May 2020 at 07:54 AM
SJC;
Everything in EV land is priced high, especially Li batteries. I expect over time as development costs decrease and mass production increases, prices will drop. I've been holding off buying Li batteries until the prices drop, been waiting a long time(ha).
Posted by: Lad | 28 May 2020 at 10:22 AM
For that price I can buy a Fiat 500e and get a complete, running vehicle. Probably could find a wrecked EV and take out the parts needed to build my own conversion for half that.
I agree with SJC - that price is too high.
Posted by: Jason Burr | 29 May 2020 at 06:56 AM
UQM had motors for $25,000 they sold to military contractors.
Pricing is important, if you think there is a business in selling to car converters have at it.
Posted by: SJC_1 | 31 May 2020 at 09:29 AM