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No Skateboards: Page-Roberts’ Vertical EV Battery Concept

Page-Roberts’ vertical battery concept could enable shorter, lower EVs, but its rear-facing seats and central battery wall raise packaging trade-offs. Its 2021 performance figures remain company estimates.
Entry402 Date Time3 min MechanicCarCody Team
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Page-Roberts proposed a different way to package an electric car battery: stand it at an angle in the center of a small car, between the front and rear seating rows, instead of laying it flat beneath the floor. The concept could free designers to make a shorter, lower car, but it brings major cabin and handling trade-offs. Its headline efficiency and weight savings are company estimates reported in 2021—not independently verified test results.

How the vertical battery layout is supposed to work

In the arrangement described by New Atlas on June 3, 2021, the battery stack sits at an angle in a central torsion-box structure. It divides the front and rear seating rows rather than occupying a flat space beneath the cabin floor. The rear seats recline and face backward.

That makes the battery part of the car’s central structure, rather than a broad underfloor pack. Page-Roberts presented this as a packaging alternative for small cars, not as a tested vehicle or a consumer-ready model.

Why Page-Roberts challenged the skateboard layout

Flat, underfloor battery packs are commonly called skateboard layouts. Freddy Page-Roberts, the company’s CEO, argued that accommodating such a pack can constrain vehicle height, aerodynamics, impact-protection structure and wheelbase. New Atlas quoted him saying the arrangement can result in “taller vehicles with increased aerodynamic losses and energy consumption (especially at motorway speeds), extra structure required to protect against impact, and a longer wheelbase to account for the battery.” This is the company’s rationale, not a settled conclusion that applies to every EV design.

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Page-Roberts launched in 2019. Its About page describes the arrangement as a patented design intended to make EVs smaller, lighter and safer, with more range for an equivalent battery energy size. The page invites investors and manufacturers to get in touch, but does not establish that a vehicle has entered production or that the concept has been licensed.

What the performance claims do—and do not—show

New Atlas attributed the following estimates to Page-Roberts in 2021. They are company projections, not independently measured results in the available reporting.

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Claim What Page-Roberts estimated Evidence qualification
Crash-structure material About 77–165 lb (35–75 kg) saved Company estimate reported by New Atlas in 2021; no independent measurement is described.
Total vehicle mass Up to 220 lb (100 kg) lower Company estimate combining the structural saving with a lower vehicle profile; not a measured comparison.
Overall efficiency Up to 30% greater Company estimate extrapolated from reduced mass and improved aerodynamics; no independent efficiency or range test is described.

Those figures should not be read as a promised range increase or a result demonstrated on the road. The available reporting does not provide an independently published range test or a named statistic validating the gains.

The central trade-off is cabin packaging

A battery wall between seating rows changes the experience and design of the cabin. The rear seats face backward, and the central structure occupies space that a conventional cabin could use for movement or storage. How easy it would be to enter the rear seats, how comfortable the unusual seating arrangement would feel, and how much usable cargo space would remain are practical questions the concept description does not settle.

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Page-Roberts regarded the layout as best suited to small four-seaters and suggested it could allow low-slung 2+2 grand-touring proportions. The same packaging may be less attractive in SUVs and crossovers, which tend to prioritize cabin volume and longer wheelbases, or in pickups and 4x4s, where additional ride height can be useful.

What a fair comparison with a skateboard EV needs to establish

The concept’s proposed advantages depend on the whole vehicle, not battery orientation alone. A meaningful comparison would need to examine:

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  • Vehicle type: whether the packaging suits a compact, low-slung four-seater better than a vehicle designed around generous cabin space or ride height.
  • Dynamics and safety: what the elevated center of gravity means for handling, and what structural and safety testing shows. A design rationale alone does not demonstrate improved safety.
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Is the concept in production?

The reporting describing the proposal dates to June 3, 2021. Page-Roberts’ About page outlines the design and invites investor and manufacturer inquiries, but the available sources do not establish whether it has since been demonstrated, licensed or commercialized. It is therefore best understood as a proposed vehicle architecture, not a production-car feature or a proven alternative to the skateboard pack.

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