19 turbo lag, but electrification delivers all that performance with linear power delivery. That goes back to my good old days of flying my model airplanes – it’s the same, the refinement, and that’s the enjoyment of it all.” A repeatable process The key to the company’s success is the repeatability of the process, but also the quality improvements and cost-efficiencies that can be achieved over time. Fong explains: “We have a continuous improvement programme, so when we built car number one, as we went through the whole validation process we learned how things could be done better. “When you are dealing with cars that are up to 60 years old, they’ve often been through a lot and the build process was also not as precise in the past. There’s quite a bit of variance, even between different periods of the same car, so we set very specific instructions to ensure donor cars are as close as possible to the one we used for the original design. “As we do more cars, the core of the design – things like mounting points – does not massively change, so we do not need to revalidate it. But, naturally, the more you build the better it will get, so once we’ve done car number three or four, we go back to car number one and offer to upgrade it if there’s the opportunity to do so.” Fong has taken personal satisfaction from each of the vehicles he has developed, but points to the GT40 as “the most exciting one” because of its status as a legendary, high-performance car. The electrified version uses a Helix motor, proven on the Lotus Evija, and the initial development process turned out to be very quick indeed. “We started off by following the same architecture we had on our first vehicle, the Land Rover, even though it’s a very different requirement in the way it delivers the power,” he recalls. “We dropped in the battery and within two weeks we were doing 140 mph at the runway – that was one of my most satisfying moments.” Fong’s pride in the Land Rover, meanwhile, is based on his team’s success in proving it possible to achieve multi-vehicle production repeatability. “We did a second-generation update, doing a cost-down exercise, refinement, simplifying the assembly, and we made it a lot safer, more user-friendly and so easy to drive. “We wanted to preserve the original feel, the four-wheel-drive system, the clunk in the gear selector, so we reworked the mechanism into a drive selector and retained the transfer case, so you can still play with diff lock, and high and low gear. I was really proud to show that we can build cool cars, but to a viable business case and in a streamlined way.” In contrast, the Pagoda is about pure refinement – and being able to achieve this by using modern technology whilst meeting the UK’s strict requirements for re-imagined classics. The axle, suspension and chassis must all remain the same, and being able to maintain the drive and feel of the original proved to be a very satisfying challenge for Fong. “The Pagoda is a front engine, rearwheel-drive car, so you have to keep the rear axle and the ring and pinion gear, and drive your motor into that,” he explains. “We had to work out how to refine that mechanically, by making the prop design work really well, and we also had to make the ramp-up strategy and the regen strategy work harmoniously.” The company works with a range of suppliers, and Fong’s past experience has ensured it has an “escape path” if one supplier lets them down. It has also been crucial to understand the homologation framework – EMC guidelines, battery and electrical safety, mountings – to ensure these machines are brought to market. In fact, those elements are key to Fong’s future plans, which revolve around Everrati’s growing business-tobusiness offering, Powered by Everrati. He explains: “We’re now looking to create a scalable, modular system with flexible packaging – a family of powertrain systems that can be used for other niche vehicle manufacturing. “We’ve been through that development cycle, and I think we can address that pain point for a lot of people because we have a demonstrable vehicle. We’re also teaming up with Soda SDV, which uses a software-defined vehicle and a library of features to create fully validated control systems for other vehicles. “We use a Helix motor, validated on the Lotus Evija, a McLaren inverter validated in our platform, and we are partnered with Raeon batteries, and all of that allows us to take our systems and apply them in any car that any other company wants to do, with fully flexible and validated solutions. That’s the next phase and it is something that really excites me.” E-Mobility Engineering | March/April 2025 Matching the pure refinement of the Mercedes Pagoda in electric form was a challenge for Tony Fong and his team (Image courtesy of Everrati)
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