Morgan had already promised an electric future with the EV3 in the 2010s, but then put the project on ice. Now there is a second attempt.
The British car manufacturer continues to work on an electric drive future. With the newly unveiled experimental prototype XP-1, which is based on the purist three-wheeler, Morgan wants to clarify its future ambitions. In 2016, Morgan had already shown an electric model with the three-wheeler EV3, which should have gone into series production in 2018. Due to problems with Frazier-Nash, the development partner responsible for the propulsion, the project was canceled. The XP-1 is now the first specific vehicle with a drive concept developed in-house by Morgan – until now, the company has generally purchased engines. Externally, it is a typical three-wheeler with a two-wheel steering axle at the front and a single wheel on the rear axle. The cigar-shaped body with an open passenger cell and two seats extends between the axles. In order to enable greater range, the XP-1 was aerodynamically optimized. What is more important, however, is the electric drive technology housed under the long front, which consists of components from suppliers, but whose scalable architecture was developed by Morgan itself with the aim of achieving this to use in your own models. In the case of the XP-1, according to the British magazine Autocar, the electric motor should deliver 100 kW/136 hp, while the 33 kWh battery allows a range of around 240 kilometers. In addition to fast charging via CCS, bidirectional charging should also be possible. With the XP-1, Morgan wants to gain practical experience with its new electric drive architecture over the next two years and further develop it to series production. Morgan has not revealed whether the three-wheeler will also be the first series-produced electric model.
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