Crate electric drivetrains are a thing now

You won’t have heard of Swindon Powertrains, but the relatively little company (which has been building road and race engines and components since the Seventies, and today supplies many BTCC teams with engines) may be about to make big waves with its ‘HPD’ EV powertrain.

Much in the same way you can buy ‘crate’ V8s from Ford, GM and so-on for installation in whatever you fancy, the HPD is a crate electric powertrain that weighs only 70kg. It’s so small that the 107bhp motor, inverter, single-speed transmission and cooling system assembly all fit under the bonnet of an old Mini, or even in a quad bike.

Swindon says it aims to have the turn-key unit in production by June 2020, that it ought to “fit a range of vehicles from sports cars through to commercial vehicles,” and that “waterproofing options make it suitable off-road leisure and recreation vehicles” too.

The idea is that the system will make it easier and cheaper for specialist OEMs (think Caterham, Westfield, Morgan and so-on) to electrify their cars. The HPD, which will be available in low volumes to suit said companies, can also be retro-fitted to classic cars, and could even be used as a component in a hybrid drivetrain.

Sounds good to us. Now, what car/thing would you stick it in?