Delta Motorsport launches customisable aluminium chassis to aid electric vehicle development

Delta Motorsport, the Silverstone-based electric vehicle developer, has reportedly launched a customisable aluminium skateboard-style chassis Delta S2 at Cenex – the UK’s premier low carbon vehicle and connected automated mobility event. The company says Delta S2 has Delta’s highly flexible platform master controller (PMC) that enables automotive OEMs develop different vehicle types at high speed and low-risk. Also, Delta S2 is fully scalable in terms of the size of the vehicle and production volume.

Adriaan Gerber, director of consultancy Gerber Engineering and a contributor to the project, said Delta’s new chassis is designed in a such a way that it can be customised and produced with an appropriate wheelbase for any kind of vehicle - be it a small delivery van, a street sweeping vehicle, a bus or a truck.

Simon Dowson, managing director of Delta, said that this project is a result of the company’s desire to demonstrate its PMC technology in an autonomous-ready system.

“Many companies are developing the artificial intelligence required for autonomous vehicles, but they do not necessarily have a vehicle capable of delivering their vision,” Dowson said.

“The flexibility of the S2 chassis and the integration platform master controller allow the delivery of multiple configurations quickly and at low cost,” he added.

Delta engineering director Nick Carpenter explained, “In general, companies developing autonomous and electric vehicle capability will start by purchasing a standard production vehicle and automating it to produce a test mule. Using the S2 instead will allow them to configure the unit to provide a much wider range of capabilities.”

The S2 chassis can accommodate an infinite range of drive, steering and braking system configurations, taking control of interfaces with the battery system, charger and all other ancillary high voltage components.