---
title: "Startup Thinks Its Modular Car Design Is the Future of EVs"
description: "Israeli startup REE has unveiled a modular car design that puts everything typically found under the hood of an electric vehicle into its wheels."
date: "2019-07-11"
modified: "2019-07-11"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/startup-ree-modular-car-design-future-evs"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
tags:
  - "electric vehicle"
  - "modular vehicle"
  - "ree"
  - "the digest"
---

# Startup Thinks Its Modular Car Design Is the Future of EVs

![Israeli startup REE has unveiled a modular car design that puts everything typically found under the hood of an electric vehicle into its wheels.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/startup-ree-modular-car-design-future-evs.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: REE/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Reinventing the Wheel

Today's electric vehicles aren't terribly different, design-wise, from their combustion engine counterparts — with rare exception, you're likely to find the motor, transmission, and other drive components all under the hood.

Israeli startup REE, however, decided to take a completely different approach to designing EVs — putting everything typically found under the hood of a car into its wheels.

"Until now, the industry has operated by making incremental improvements on the traditional design of the automotive vehicle," REE CEO Daniel Barel said in a [press release](<https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/wheel-reinvented--ree-emerges-from-stealth-to-power-the-future-of-mobility-300882679.html>). "At REE, we believe that in order to hasten the automotive revolution we need to reinvent the wheel — quite literally."

https://youtu.be/T5eQ4gyycyU

## Solid Foundation

The modular car platform REE unveiled at the TechCrunch Mobility event on Wednesday doesn't look so much like an electric vehicle as it does a large skateboard — and that's a major part of its appeal.

The idea is that an automaker could build [any type of electric vehicle](<https://futurism.com/autonomous-vehicles-modular>) — from a [golf cart to a pickup truck](<https://youtu.be/b9cPVVK31qQ>) — right on top of the modular car platform.

"The single biggest expenditure for an OEM auto manufacturer is the platform, developing and validating it," Barel [told *New Atlas*](<https://newatlas.com/ree-modular-mobility-platform/60486/#p577534>). "It costs billions, it takes years... We went in and said 'what if you might need only one? That might be worth something.'"

https://youtu.be/iko2g1PZza0

**READ MORE:** [REE re-invents the wheel, and plans a complete disruption of the auto industry](<https://newatlas.com/ree-modular-mobility-platform/60486/>) \[*New Atlas*\]

**More on modular cars:** *[Op-Ed: Lego-Like Customization Will Give Us Autonomous Vehicles We Never Imagined](<https://futurism.com/autonomous-vehicles-modular>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)