Israeli startup REE Automotive is rolling closer to commercializing its revolutionary flat, modular electric vehicle (EV) chassis. REE is opening a fully robotic assembly line at its first Integration Center at Coventry, UK.

REE’s Coventry Integration Center will serve customer demand in Europe with an initial focus on REE’s EV platform for commercial electric vehicles such as walk-in delivery vans, buses and recreational vehicles.

The REEcorner platform packs critical vehicle components (steering, braking, suspension, powertrain and control) into a single compact module positioned between the chassis and the wheel, enabling REE to build the industry’s flattest EV platforms with more room for passengers, cargo and batteries.

Headquartered in Herzliya, Israel, REE has an Engineering Center in the UK, as well as subsidiaries including Japan and Germany. The 130,000-square-foot Coventry site, to be partially powered by solar energy, has an expected capacity of 10,000 vehicle sets this year. Another REE Integration Center in Austin, Texas, is expected to double global capacity to 20,000 vehicle sets in 2023.

The company is partnering with industry leaders including Rockwell Automation and Expert Technologies for robotics and automated assembly, with the first assembly line expected to become operational in the second half of the year.

“This is an important milestone on our path to commercial production next year. The automated and connected capabilities at our Coventry site are a great foundation for our global operations, as they will enable us to continuously fine-tune our assembly procedures and rapidly deploy them to other sites,” said Josh Tech, REE’s Chief Operating Officer.

“Our cloud-based robotic manufacturing system will be the digital backbone for our assembly lines and give us the local capability to manage our customer-specific manufacturing operations, while also allowing us to quickly share and scale best practices internationally across all plants.”

REE’s patented technology, together with its unique value proposition, position it to break new ground in e-Mobility. For more information, click here.

Abigail Klein Leichman is a writer and associate editor at ISRAEL21c. Prior to moving to Israel in 2007, she was a specialty writer and copy editor at a major daily newspaper in New Jersey and has freelanced for a variety of newspapers and periodicals since 1984.