► Concept EV is rolling laboratory
► 805bhp, all-wheel drive
► DS performing tests with it in 2022
DS is looking to the future with this: the E-Tense Performance. It’s a concept car that’s been dreamt up by the DS design team with the aim of blending all of that tech knowhow the brand has gleaned from Formula E into a road car. The E-Tense Performance is described as ‘a laboratory to accelerate the development of technology for the future of DS design.’
It’s definitely a striking looking thing, as all DS cars are. The front end is inspired by the DS Aero Sport Lounge concept car, but it’s low and sleek with a two-tone colour scheme. There are 3D elements to the logo, too, and more than 800 LEDs are used in the concept car’s light signatures.
Under the sharply-angled bodywork is a carbonfibre monocoque chassis and a pure-electric powertrain. There’s an e-motor on each axle – a 250kW one a the front, a 350kW one at the rear – for 805bhp total power output. Performance stats aren’t confirmed yet, but with that amount of power, it won’t be slow.
The battery pack is mid-rear mounted – like a mid-engined sports car – to keep the weight balanced, and was designed with the help with Total Energies. The battery pack claims to use ‘an innovative chemistry’ as well as a cooling fluid designed by Total, which it claims is better than what’s currently available on the market. The comprehensive use of carbonfibre will help keep weight down, too.
And this isn’t some car that’s entire life is a CAD file on a hard drive. DS is rolling out the E-Tense Performance as a test mule, with the first demos starting from 7 February 2022 until 23 October 2022.
It’s the brand’s aim for all of its cars to be pure-electric from 2024 onwards, so tech from this concept car could trickle down into future EVs from the DS brand. ‘The idea is to find solutions to lower costs, make them easier to manufacture and explore implementations in production models,’ said DS Performance boss, Thomas Chevaucher, ‘the next generation of the E-Tense range will benefit from these developments.’
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