REE Automotive has announced a strategic collaboration agreement with mobility technology company Magna International with the goal of bringing to market innovative, full-fledged Modular Electric Vehicles (MEVs).
The strategic collaboration will explore the combination of REE’s REEcorner technology with Magna’s vehicle systems integration expertise and manufacturing capabilities to develop MEVs that enable commercial customers to customize vehicles based on their specifications and branding, while accelerating time to market.
Daniel Barel, REE Co-Founder and CEO, commented: “We are thrilled to reach a collaboration agreement with Magna, which should help put us on the fast track to support a broad range of electric vehicles (EVs). We see a growing demand for highly modular EVs from leading tech companies and new electric mobility players who have set their sights on entering the EV realm and building a brand in automotive. REE and Magna working together under the ‘Powered by REE’ approach can help bring their vision to life.”
REE and Magna will also explore potential collaboration in global mobility through the creation of a Mobility-as-a- Service (MaaS) venture in the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) sector that leverages REE’s proprietary X-by-Wire REEcorner and EV platform technology as well as Magna’s industrial footprint and capabilities.
“The evolving mobility landscape is opening new business model opportunities for Magna with our systems capability and unique ability to design, engineer and assemble vehicles,” said Eric Wilds, chief sales and marketing officer of Magna. “We are excited about our collaboration with REE and our ability to offer another capability to support potential new customers and Mobility-as-a-Service.”
REE’s proprietary REEcorner technology integrates critical vehicle components into an area between the chassis and the wheel – the “corners” – creating a compact single module where each corner is controlled by REE’s proprietary X-by-Wire control technology. This results in the only fully-flat skateboard EV platform offering more space and interior room for passengers, cargo, and batteries.
MEVs utilizing REEcorner will have full flexibility to custom-tailor EVs based on EV platform size, preferred length, width and vehicle height, payload capacities, drive and steering, battery capacity and power source (battery or fuel cell).
REE’s technologies are designed to support the creation of MEVs with maximum payload capacity for transporting passengers and cargo as well as achieving the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). MEVs are designed with a lower center of gravity than vehicles with the motor located between the wheels, and allow for taller cabins and lower step-in height, yielding more cargo capacity than conventional EV platforms. For example, in a delivery van application, this means MEVs ‘Powered by REE’ could deliver more packages per kWh, further improving operational benefits for customers like tech companies and new e-mobility players.
