SPA3's clever battery packaging means lower-slung cars could make a comeback even in EV age
Volvo’s new SPA3 platform for electric cars could pave the way for the firm to return to traditional, low-riding saloon and estate models like the S60 and V90. Five of the Swedish firm's six current model lines are SUVs – and even the sixth, the saloon-shaped ES90, sits as high off the ground as the average crossover.
Bosses have previously said that the focus on bigger-selling SUVs means there is little room for traditional saloons and estates in its planned eight-car line-up, following the retirement of the petrol-powered S60, S90, V60 and V90. But Volvo has long been clear that the new SPA3 platform – which is first being used on the new EX60 – has been developed for dramatically enhanced engineering flexibility, allowing EVs to sit much closer to the ground and giving it flexibility if demand changes in future. One crucial development, with regard to the SPA3’s suitability for different types of car, is that it has been engineered so the battery capacity does not dictate the height of the vehicle. Volvo chief technology officer Anders Bell explained that because it has been created for EVs – rather than being adapted from an ICE platform, as was the case with the EX90 and ES90’s SPA2 platform – there is much more freedom in the packaging to move components and structures to suit different designs. “My job in engineering is to provide options for the company,” he told Autocar. “We can make high. We can make them low. It’s all in scalability and this is unlocked by removing the combustion engine, the exhaust, fuel tanks and everything from the equation, and finding new ways to build up the bone structure and the scalability of the platform.” Bell said one reason cars are getting wider in general is because the packaging constraints in adapted ICE platforms means that to increase capacity, battery packs have to be extended widthways. But the SPA3 opens up new possibilities in this regard that will allow next-generation Volvo EVs to be closer in width, height and silhouette to traditional ICE cars. Chiefly, because the front crash structure has not been shaped to accommodate an engine, there is more flexibility to spread the battery cells across the floorpan and ahead of the scuttle. The battery therefore needn’t be contained exclusively within the wheelbase. The SPA3 moves the meeting point between the battery and the front crash structure forward, so “we can put seven kilowatts – at a minimum, probably more – of the pack further forward, while still doing all the crazy Volvo crash stuff,” said Bell. Positioning cells ahead of the windscreen makes space for ‘foot garages’ – as used by the likes of the low-slung Porsche Taycan and Audi E-tron GT – that allow the rear seating position to be essentially the same as in an ICE car, which ultimately means the window and rooflines can be kept at the same height . Bell said: “In a lower car, you can depopulate cells in the rear footwell, because this is actually what sets the lowest height of a car: the rear-seat passenger.” The reason the ES90 saloon rides high is because it is based on the SPA2, so all the seats and footwells have to be on top of the battery, effectively raising the car by around 200mm. Bell said: “If you have an evenly flat pack throughout the whole length of the vehicle, you get this penalty. It’s why so many of the look like baby SUVs, even if they try to be low.” The battery terminals in the SPA3 have also been flipped so that they now face down, rather than up as has usually been the case. As a result, the current collector can be positioned uniformly across the pack without needing to be arranged around the footwell incursions. Bell said this new-found flexibility – enhanced by a scuttle point that can be raised or lowered as needed – means that electric Volvos needn’t sit high any more and suggested it could pave the way for a return to traditional low-slung saloons and estates: “We can do low. We can do sleek. We can do high. We can do MPVs… It’s all in the cookbook. What we choose to do, however, is a different story.” The developments, in theory, mean that Volvo could relatively easily develop a saloon sibling to the EX60 as an electric successor to the old S60, but bosses kept their cards close to their chest on specific details of any future models. Such a model, though, could play an important role in Volvo's plan to emerge as a frontrunner in the premium electric car market, giving the firm a rival to the likes of the upcoming BMW i3, Mercedes C-Class EQ and Audi A4 E-tron. Bell did not hint at any plans for an 'ES60', but clarified that SPA3 enables cars that are "very low, like proper low...", suggesting the potential for a return to ground-hugging saloons and estates like the S60 and V90 - if commercial demand is there. "You can achieve this fantastic bandwidth so we can make super-sleek cars," Bell said, "like there's no battery pack that affects the height of the roof."
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