Ineos has just launched its Grenadier, due in the US in the second half of 2023, and it is deep in ... [+]
Two all-new Ineos SUV models, with two new and very different powertrains are under development to join the Grenadier hard-core off-roader by 2026.
At the launch of its Grenadier in Scotland last month, Ineos admitted it was working on a BEV with leading automotive industry supplier, Magna, by 2026, but that its fuel-cell EV launch date would depend on refueling infrastructure.
Unlike the ladder-framed Grenadier, the BEV Ineos will be a skateboard EV, with a flat brick-shaped battery pack amidships and suspension and motor sub-frames attached at either end.
That means Ineos has almost certainly signed on for Magna Steyr’s EV platform, and will join the Fisker Ocean EV and at least two Chinese SUVs as Magna-built EVs.
The major difference with Fisker is that it won’t use a Magna architecture, with Magna instead contract-building the Ocean on Fisker’s own FM29 proprietary platform design, which will not be shared with other manufacturers.
The move to Magna will give Ineos a BEV shortcut in both time and investment, leaving it free to develop its fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) on the Grenadier’s ladder-frame chassis.
It will also give the Ineos BEV an 800-Volt power system, with either one or two electric motors for up to 400kW of power, 600km of range and the potential for three rows of seating.
“We have three models planned: this (the Grenadier), the FCEV and a more user-friendly EV model,” Ineos Commercial Director Mark Tennant said during the Grenadier launch in Scotland last month.
“We can confirm we are not doing a BEV on this (the Grenadier) platform.
“We might stack it full of batteries as a test mule, but the architecture doesn’t lend itself to becoming an EV.”
Like the Fisker Ocean, the Ineos EV will be built by Magna. Unlike the Fisker Ocean, the Ineos EV ... [+]
A move to Magna would mean the BEV would be the first Ineos built away from the Hambach, France, factory which Ineos boss Jim Ratcliffe leveraged out of Daimler’s hands after the long-running smart factory had already been retooled for the Mercedes-Benz GLB.
Magna already makes cars for everybody from BMW to Jaguar and from Mercedes-Benz to Toyota, while also working on self-driving BEV technology with both Lyft and China’s BAIC.
The Ineos BEV, as yet unnamed publicly, will have less off-road ability than the Grenadier, which stretches its abilities via a ladder-frame chassis and live axles at both ends.
The BEV will use fully independent suspension all round, with far less wheel travel than the Grenadier can muster, though the BEV layout will allow it the electronic equivalent of locking differentials.
“We don’t want to be a one-trick pony and we want to broaden the offer and for that we need a zero-emission vehicle (that is not dependent on infrastructure) and that right now means a BEV,” Tennant insisted.
“We are working on a BEV for 2026. It won’t be ladder frame. It will be skateboard and smaller and lighter and very capable off-road.”
It won’t be as utilitarian as the Grenadier, either, and may even deliver niceties and comfort and infotainment systems that are taken for granted in the modern era.
“The creature comforts, that is where that market is going and we need to be mindful of that. The consumer wants more focus on equipment levels at the end of the market our BEV targets, and they go off road less.
“Twelve-way electric seats, well, that’s not what the Grenadier is about, but it could be what the customers want on the BEV.
“But as a new brand, we need to have a thread that runs through Ineos, so it will be off-road capable.”
Tennant said Ineos was well aware of the limitations of EVs for off-road exploration and nomad lifestyles, though it had alternatives to EV powertrains.
“It gets boring talking about how you will not see a 600km range out of a full-size SUV BEV any time soon,” he repeated.
“We have to have some towing capacity to stick with the brand and our own stand-out design, because SUV design is so homogenized now.”
Fuel Cell EV
That leaves the Ineos fuel-cell EV (FCEV) as the third model, and its timing is more... fluid.
Well, more gaseous.
That’s because the FCEV could be brought to market relatively quickly, on a lightly modified version of the Grenadier’s ladder-frame chassis, but the technology or the development resources aren’t the choke points.
The problem is infrastructure, according to Tennant.
“The Grenadier lends itself very well to fuel cell hydrogen EV,” Tennant confirmed.
“We would love to do that, but we are not going to make that bet until there is a means of filling them up.”
Ineos is working with energy companies in the UK and across Europe to accelerate hydrogen supply outlets, and it is even developing some of its own systems through its petrochemical arm.
“There is still quite a life left for internal-combustion powertrains, too, and this is the conversation at Ineos, about capability and a preference for the off-road simplicity of mechanical over electric,” Tennant said.
The original version of this article suggested Fisker would use Magna’s in-house chassis architecture for the Ocean. Fisker will use its proprietary chassis designs for the Ocean, which will be made by Magna.
