Slate Auto isn’t the only company betting on customers wanting to build their own EV using kit parts. Canadian micromobility company Envo’s Utility Personal Transporter is a modular electric platform that can be reconfigured into nearly 20 different vehicles – golf cart, go-kart, snowkart, ATV, side-by-side, cargo quadricycle, last-mile delivery rig, and even an emergency vehicle with a stretcher.
Envo has spun off the platform into its own sub-brand, Modular-EV, with a dedicated storefront and online platform separate from Envo’s core e-bike and gokart business.
This is an electric cart, not an electric car. The UPT is very high under highway speeds and is not meant to shut down your daily driver. It is intended to replace the five or six single-purpose machines that line your garage, farm shed or ship depot. Envo’s messaging leans heavily on the smartphone analogy: the idea that the UPT should be the only thing you need in your garage, the way your phone has replaced your camera, calculator and GPS.
The company already builds e-bikes, go-karts, golf carts and cargo quadricycles, so a modular electric micromobility platform is the next logical step. The UPT rides on an aluminum T-slot Base Block chassis rather than a conventional welded frame, making the reconfiguration trick possible. The height and width of the platform can be resized, and the suspension, modules and body modules are fastened wherever the application calls for it – no welding is required.
Power comes from independent motors that are controlled independently at each wheel, which Envo says offers precision, quad-motor torque control rather than a single drive unit that sends power through the axles and differential. (This also allows the EV to pull off zero-radius tank curves.) Buyers can specify a short or long wheelbase, 2WD or 4WD, and a single 2.83kWh battery or two 5.66kWh packs to get the estimated 62 to 125 kilometers (200 km) of the system and pay for the configuration. That may sound short, but we’re talking about an electric golf cart with a top speed of 40 mph (60 kph); they are not well designed for road trips. In keeping with the modular theme, the batteries themselves are interchangeable and reusable, which is a nice nod to repairability.
From there, it’s just a matter of picking up tires (CargoBike or off-road), steering (wheel or handlebars, car-style pedals or a bike generator), seats and body parts like bumpers and cargo boxes. Everything can be disassembled with hand tools and rebuilt from the parts catalog, and folded down small enough to be thrown into the bed of a pickup.
Modular-EV sells the platform as a bare rolling chassis and as a series of modular structures, each with its own model number. There is a UP20 base platform, a UT20 utility vehicle and a UT21 golf cart, AT20 to AT23 all-terrain and a range of mobility-scooters and more. My favorites are the GC20 buggy go-kart and the LV20 microcar.
There is also a range of ET-series utility vehicles aimed at airports, hospitals, film crews, event promoters and municipal fleets, all sold on the same chassis with different body kits. Envo also announced a partnership with self-driving company Faction to bring AI-driven, self-driving capabilities to UPT for last-mile delivery. These commercial vessels are likely to be the largest market for conventional UPTs, not the medium.
That said, I think the DIY nature of the build is what makes this interesting beyond the automotive world. An electric side-by-side operator around a large lot, or a golf cart in a car-free community, can keep a bin of replacement parts on hand and convert the same chassis into a mower or plow when the season calls for it, instead of buying and maintaining a separate machine for every job.
The Modular-EV UPT starts at around $9,000 for a bare UP20 platform, with most complete setups priced between $10,000 and $12,000. That’s not cheap for something you can’t pick up on the highway, but the field isn’t “buying a wagon,” it’s “buying a field.” You can’t mow your lawn with a Honda Civic. With this, you can turn around and use the same chassis to transport goods, plow snow and throw all the kit in the back of the truck and put it in the tent.
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