Staying true to the lightweight sports car principles of the Atom, the Nomad is an off-roading buggy the Ariel Motor Company introduced in 2015 to great acclaim. Entitled to wear license plates if you want to drive it on public roads as well, the Nomad can also be converted to an all-electric vehicle.
BorgWarner took a bone-stock model to demonstrate the company’s electric propulsion capabilities, a one-off boasting two electric motors, traction inverters, a torque-vectoring drive unit at the rear axle, electric coolant pump to keep the battery in check, DC/DC converter, and dedicated control software for both the vehicle and traction control system. So to speak, this isn’t your typical e-conversion with parts from a totaled Tesla Model S.
“We will continue to embrace projects such as this EV demonstration vehicle that help us validate next-generation products,” said vice president and chief technology officer Hakan Yilmaz. The liquid-cooled battery has a capacity of 30 kWh, which is half that of the Nissan Leaf e+ (or Leaf e-Plus in the U.S.)
BorgWarner partners such as Romeo Power and Cascadia Motion collaborated with the American automotive parts company on the project, and all told, the CAE group was able to build the e-Nomad in approximately six months. If you were wondering why was the Nomad chosen as the basis of this project, that’s because the open-air design enabled easy access for removal and installation.
BorgWarner high-voltage Hairpin electric motors and eGearDrive gear sets put the power down to the road, and along with the in-house inverters, the system promises durability as well. While there are no plans to put the e-Nomad into production, the Corporate Advanced Engineering Group is tasked with developing OEM components for different vehicles from many automakers.
GKN Automotive is ahead of BorgWarner in this regard, celebrating the delivery of the millionth eDrive system in July 2019. The eDrive incorporates the electric motor, transmission, and inverter into a single package. Another interesting piece of technology is the eRad, an electric rear-axle drive unit that GKN builds for the XC60 and XC90 luxury crossovers from Volvo Cars.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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