Accelerating vehicle engineering from concept to road in 24 months

2 years and 24 months. The goal is clear: design a new vehicle from sketch to first production run in under 24 months. You might think “vehicle engineering ridiculous”, or maybe “Why not?” Your reaction is probably relevant whether you work for an established OEM, have a tech background or work for a startup in Southeast Asia.

One of our customers recently gave us the challenge to deliver two electric vehicles in just 22 months. We weren’t quite there yet, but we were close. Lessons learned from this experience have changed our approach to accelerating vehicle design and development. It is important to understand the motivations for faster delivery and the business constraints that affect it.

For example, start-ups are driven to get their vision to market quickly and generate revenue to satisfy shareholders and ensure their survival. This gives them a greater willingness to take risks and drive development forward.

Established OEMs, on the other hand, operate with mature business plans and established production facilities that are difficult to change. The company’s processes, perfected over a century of developing internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, serve a loyal customer base with high expectations for quality and reliability.

These companies are inherently risk averse, and while they strive to keep up with competition from Tesla and upstart Chinese manufacturers, they are limited by their size and structure. OEMs often outsource projects that don’t fit neatly into their existing structure, such as supercars or breakthrough innovations.

In this way, they can demonstrate the “art of the possible” within their organizations and drive change. Some, like Renault and JLR, have taken more drastic steps and restructured into smaller, independent teams to become more agile. Our 24-month customer is a startup.

During the planning stage, we reviewed our New Product Introduction process (NPI), but the original timeline was 32 months, which was far too slow. We questioned every activity and asked: How can we go faster? We made the difficult decision to postpone the new cell technology and continued to learn throughout the project, but it didn’t always go as planned.

However, this approach resulted in a scalable NPI process based on actual vehicle deliveries. So what does it take to deliver a vehicle program in 24 months?

Key requirements are

Step 1 – EV Platform:

The inherent simplicity of an EV platform streamlines development. Most OEMs have one today, and startups can invest in a proven platform or form a joint venture with an OEM to accelerate development.

Step 2 – Leverage what you know:

Leveraging existing designs and solutions saves time. Consider delta testing or virtual validation instead of testing from scratch. Use rig and buck instead of waiting for the finished vehicle, and test the finished vehicle only when necessary.

Step 3 – Make fast decisions:

An early decision, even if it’s slightly wrong, is better than a late or wrong decision. Enable leaders to make timely decisions and avoid system-based bottlenecks like the 80/20 rule.

Step 4 – Define the electrical architecture:

As software-defined vehicles become more common, it is important to define the electrical architecture early on. This system is expected to be one of the first to be developed and validated.

Step 6 – Get Agile:

True agile methodologies in automotive manufacturing are still being debated, but the principles of sprints, regular communication, and short-term goals are essential. Race teams’ adaptive approach, combined with immediate escalation and decisive leadership, is incredibly powerful.

Step 7 – Think about tooling:

Rapid tooling allows for advanced virtual validation and faster production. This approach may require revalidation after job 1, increasing overall costs, but it can save significant time. AI is revolutionizing the industry, promising to increase efficiency and reduce routine tasks. AI is not yet capable of designing a car at the push of a button, but its rapid development is changing the way we learn and work.

The automotive industry is undergoing massive change, triggered by the electric mobility revolution and driven by software-defined vehicles and autonomous driving. Ten years ago, a 24-month program was unthinkable. Today, it is difficult, but at least feasible for production cars. We want to progress even faster, without sacrificing quality. This is the delicate balance we try to maintain.

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