REE claims to be reinventing the wheel – quite literally. Its new platform places the motor, steering, suspension, drivetrain, sensing, brakes, thermal systems and electronics into the wheel, creating a truly flat platform.
REE says this radical design provides a low centre of gravity that maximizes a vehicle’s efficiency, agility and stability.
Auto Futures has been talking to Daniel Barel, Co-Founder and CEO of the Tel-Aviv based start-up REE.
Barel describes himself as “a serial entrepreneur who loves leading disruptive startups in the fields of mechanical engineering and transportation, social network and market place and cyber security”.
Barel tells us: “At REE we’ve developed the technology to merge all of the car’s drive components into its wheel. This enables us to create a completely flat and modular chassis, thereby saving manufacturers billions of dollars by enabling them to use one chassis for all of their vehicle designs, while simultaneously assisting the electrification process and the autonomous viability of vehicles.”
He adds: “By simply changing the wheels of our platform we enable different capabilities literally creating new cars on a single platform. At REE our technology is pioneering a radical shift to ensure vehicles meet the needs of today and tomorrow, not of the past.”
Barel says the idea for its platform came from realising that the auto industry is constricted by traditional concepts of how a vehicle should be built.
“REE’s unique approach makes more volume-efficient vehicles a reality, thereby reducing the strain on batteries, increasing vehicle efficiency and reducing overall traffic strain.”
“Also, due to REE’s skateboard chassis being completely universal, OEMs can use one chassis to service all their needs – from a robotaxi to a sports car to a delivery truck, the same chassis can be used – saving manufacturers approximately $20 billion per chassis.”
REE has only recently launched and it already has partners including world leading Tier-1s and automakers, including Mitsubishi, Musashi, AAM, Tenneco and NSK.
In a press release, Mitsubishi Corporation commented: “We can see REE’s technology has huge potential in the autonomous driving world, as it makes the electrification process highly efficient with its new modular platform.”
Barel says: “REE’s modular chassis… serves all EV configurations- big or small, fast or heavy, without any compromise on performance, safety, serviceability or comfort, meeting and beating all of today’s industry standards. As an agnostic platform our solution is compatible with any non-emission clean vehicle.”
Looking to the future, Barel is optimistic his start-up will play a leading role in the development of EV technology.
“The future of urban mobility will be autonomous, electric and shared and, with REE’s technology, we’re enabling the future of mobility to come to fruition. REE will enable more efficient robotaxis and shuttles, autonomous delivery and personal vehicles.”
