General Motors Hy-wire

2002 General Motors Hy-wire Strip the body off almost any modern electric car and you find the Hy-wire's big idea: a flat skateboard holding the energy store and the motor, with the cabin sitting on top. GM's 2002 concept ran on hydrogen fuel cells and steered by wire, and because nothing mechanical had to pass through the floor, designers could shape the interior freely and even swap bodies on the same chassis. The fuel cell did not become everyday, but the skateboard did, with batteries in its place. Tesla's skateboard cars were on sale for years before GM returned to the layout for its Ultium electric cars. Treat it as a shared idea rather than a direct blueprint: the Hy-wire is the clearest early demonstration of it.