Fully electric cars will soon dominate the market and several manufacturers are already selling next-gen models. Nobody wants to be one of the manufacturers left behind. With companies like Tesla and BMW pushing on with new tech, other companies are announcing their plans so the shareholders know they intend to keep up. Earlier this week it was Volvo detailing their plans for electric cars within the next few years. Now the PSA Group are showing what they’re up to.
The PSA Group, which owns Peugeot, Citroën, and DS, have announced new architecture that new electric cars will be built around. This mirrors Volvo’s announcement detailing their plans for a modular architecture to allow the development of fully electric compacts. The PSA Group’s announcement details two different platforms, one for fully electric cars and the other for hybrids.
PSA’s Common Modular Platform (CMP) will be the architecture for fully electric cars made by the likes of Peugeot and Cirtroën. Unlike Volvo’s CMA, this will be the groundwork for many sizes of car from compacts to SUVs. The system should give their cars a 260-mile range, which seems very optimistic with their 50 kWh battery. The other platform for the hybrid vehicles is an upgraded version of their Efficient Modular Platform (EMP). New cars based on this platform will have an electric-only range of 38 miles without using the engine.
New models using these platforms will launch in 2019. The PSA Group isn’t new to electric cars but they still have a lot to prove. The Peugeot iON wasn’t inspiring and didn’t impress with its sub 100-mile range. With these promising platforms for future models, the PSA Group should be able to build entire ranges of cars relatively quickly.
Now we just need to wait and see if they can really get almost 300 miles on a 50 kWh battery. The Tesla S 60 kWh battery didn’t give as much range. Perhaps the PSA Group will find that real-world testing brings that range closer to 200 miles. Then again, perhaps they’ve made some advances that will give that extra boost. They seem very proud of a new heat pump that can supposedly boost ranges by 30 miles. We eagerly await 2019.
Main image: PSA Group
