Gordon Murray’s planet-saving lightweight EV architecture project is underway

Gordon Murray Group (GMG) has started spending that £11 million of investment it was promised to develop a lightweight EV chassis. As a result, we’ve got more info on the build.

The brief is to create a ‘production-ready, ultra-lightweight, low CO2 monocoque’; specifically, the team are aiming to shave a massive 25 per cent off the weight of the chassis, and build a more planet-friendly structure by making it 50 per cent less carbon intensive.

This being Gordon Murray, it's got a very Gordon Murray-esque name - ‘Project M-LightEn’ (Monocoque architecture - Lightweight and Low Energy) - and this initial stage involves researching, designing and building various prototypes in both digital and physical form.

It’s created a consortium of clever folk from Carbon ThreeSixty, Constellium and Brunel University, and plans to harness the super-computing power of artificial intelligence to meet its ambitious targets.

Together, they plan to knock out a ultra-high-strength extrusion or two with 80 per cent recycled scrap aluminium sourced from the UK in a near-zero-waste manufacturing process. Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA) also has a goal to ‘achieve the lowest lifecycle carbon footprint of any supercar’.

GMG’s strategy and business director, Jean-Phillipe Launberg, said: “The potential for this project is exciting to GMA as the company constantly strives to utilise the very latest materials, technologies, and processes to produce its driver-focused supercars."

This initial three-year phase of an eventual five-year programme will reap some typically low-volume rewards by late 2027. Imagine: if the T.50 loses a quarter of its already-flyweight chassis mass, it might actually take off.