Present-day electric vehicles are typically designed by starting from an existing vehicle platform and designing a storage device (battery pack) to fit the constraints of the existing vehicle. OSTLER is based on the concept of modular storage devices around which an electric vehicle (EV) can be designed. The vehicle designer can select storage capacity to give range in EV mode (e.g. 20 km, 50 km, 100 km) in much the same way as current-generation vehicles are designed around different powertrain packages (e.g. 1.6 litre, 1.8 litre, 2.0 litre).

OSTLER will develop novel solutions for mechanical, thermal and electrical integration based around such a modular concept of storage-centric design. The project will further investigate the implications of these integration solution if one or more of the storage packs is removable, and hence evaluate the feasibility of a removable concepts e.g. quick drop or user-changeable packs.