Acer unwraps electric all-terrain vehicle

PanARMENIAN.Net - Acer, which is better-known for its range of laptops, tablets, phones, and similar consumer electronics, has quietly lifted the lid on a brand-new product line — an electric, all-terrain vehicle (eATV), VentureBeat reports.

The Taiwanese tech titan unveiled the eATV “X Terran” prototype at the eCarTech conference in Munich last week, but the company didn’t reveal too many details.

Acer created a new subsidiary called “MPS Energy” back in July as part of its “foray into the vehicle electricity and mobile power field,” as the company announced in a press release. Acer added that it’s dedicating resources to developing a battery management system (BMS) for smart cars “with a focus on green and connected car technology.”

The BMS Acer’s offering constitutes a motherboard and three battery packs, each with 256 18650 lithium-ion batteries that provide 8.7kWh of power.

For the eATV X Terran, Acer has partnered with Studio X-Gene, an indie design company based out of Taiwan that specializes in vehicle styling and engineering. Acer’s role in the initiative is all about the MPS Energy’s battery management tech, while demonstrating its so-called build-your-own-cloud (BYOC) R&D around connected cars.