Morgan three-wheeled sports car switched to electric propulsion (7 photos)

Morgan has unveiled the XP1 electric sports car (from eXperimental Prototype). It is based on the chassis of the three-wheeled Super 3, but will not go into production. The new product will become a kind of testing ground where solutions for production electric models will be tested. Testing will take the next two years.





The components of the new power plant were installed in those Super 3 spaces that were freed up after the removal of the internal combustion engine. For example, a 134 hp electric motor that rotates the rear wheel was placed in the transmission tunnel, and a 33-kW battery was located in the engine compartment. Without recharging, the experimental three-wheeler will travel up to 240 kilometers.

One area for experimentation was aerodynamics. The electric car, compared to the regular Super 3, has had the design of the front part and the shape of the wings changed, and also been equipped with additional linings on the bottom. As a result, the air resistance coefficient was improved by a third - from 0.65 to 0.42. The change in the power plant required reconfiguration of the suspension, where new shock absorbers appeared.

In addition, the XP1 was equipped with a new instrument panel. It will become a separate object of research, since the features of the user interface will be studied with this screen.

Studying the Morgan XP1 should help the company's engineers understand what the brand's production electric cars might look like. As the company noted, even battery-powered Morgans should behave like classic Morgans, and the prototype should become one of the company’s tools for the company’s transition to new energy sources.

The three-wheeled Super 3, which became a development of the 3 Wheeler sports car, was introduced by Morgan in February last year. It was equipped with a three-cylinder Ford engine producing 118 hp. Thus, the electric version turned out to be somewhat more powerful, but at the same time heavier. If the petrol Super 3 weighs 645 kilograms, then the XP1 weighs about 700.