E-Mobility Engineering 015 l EMotive Scarab off-road truck dossier l In Conversation: Giulio Ornella l Hall effect and magnetic sensors focus l Challenge of batteries for heavy-duty EVs l Alpha Motor Corporation digest l Automated charging insight l HVAC systems focus

This experience should be useful when replicating the front-wheel steering system on the rear axle. “There are a few bits we need to take into consideration, for instance articulation around the phase cables, and the routing of coolant pipes for the new liquid-cooled motors,” he says. “It’s not too much of a challenge though, because we are already running cables to the motors, but because it’s an off-road vehicle it has to be in a way that ensures it will not be damaged. It won’t be open to the elements because we will put it through some kind of casing. “Hopefully, that is where my experience will pay off because nothing is exposed in Formula One cars, everything being routed through conduits and wishbone shrouds. This is a very different vehicle of course, but we can apply the same principles in a way that prolongs component life and reduces the risk of anything that could cause component failures. Formula One cars are notorious for being hard to maintain. “It is not easy to just pop a brake line out of a rear axle or a rear corner, because it is all integrated into the wishbone, so you have to strip the wishbone to get to it. That is what we want to avoid, but we are lucky in that this is nothing like as intricate.” Also to ease maintenance, all the service connections to the hub motors use dry breaks to prevent leakage from any of the systems if they have to be disconnected if for example an axle module needs to be changed. “That minimises downtime, which is of the utmost importance for the applications we are looking at,” Roles says. The suspension uses bushes and ball joints, which as in any vehicle are subject to wear and tear, but there are no grease nipples or other lubrication points. In the development vehicle, the battery pack is installed and removed from the top of its compartment, which EMotive intends to change. In the production version, the pack will be accessed from the side using a forklift, a telehandler or a pallet truck, or a tool adapted to fit a standard piece of agricultural equipment, for example. The company also plans to offer a battery swap-out capability, but there are challenges associated with that including the cost to the end-user of having two batteries, access to handling equipment, a charging system for the second battery and so on. Licensing manufacture When development of the platform is complete, EMotive intends to license the design for local manufacture around the world rather than building them in volume itself. “With these specialist applications, people tend to be loyal to a brand they trust and which provides good aftersales support, so we want to work with established brands,” Regan says. when they are needed and generally making the project run on time. He also overseas construction of the prototype. He cut his technical teeth as a helicopter engineer in the Royal Navy before moving to McLaren, building engines for GT3 cars before joining the Formula One team as a travelling mechanic. A stint at Ashwoods Automotive followed, where he headed up prototype and vehicle integration for the company’s conversion of excavators and trucks to electric power, joining EMotive after Ashwoods was bought by Dana. Joining the project when the development prototype was little more than a chassis with a cab provided an opportunity to focus on making build and assembly processes easier and optimising access for maintenance, drawing on his experience in Formula One where none of these things are easy and lessons on what to avoid are plentiful. EMotive plans to add steering to the rear axle, which will mean re-routing power, braking and motor cooling-related cables and pipes through the centre of the suspension (Author’s photo) Autumn 2022 | E-Mobility Engineering 33 Dossier | EMotive Scarab off-road truck