Tech Talk

Beyond the Specs: How Systems Thinking is Reshaping EV Design

Innovation & Insight

Sharath Reddy, Senior Vice President, Corporate R&D
January 12, 2026
3-min read

Electric vehicle design is often framed as a series of tradeoffs: more range means more weight, higher performance demands better cooling, and advanced features add cost. But the real challenge isn’t just choosing the right specs—it’s knowing when to stop optimizing before it becomes counterproductive.

As electrification accelerates, automakers face mounting pressure to meet shifting regulations, regional consumer preferences, and evolving charging infrastructure. Future-proofing a product in this environment requires more than great specs. It demands a new mindset.

That’s where systems thinking comes in.

Instead of chasing individual performance metrics in isolation, a systems-level approach asks a more strategic question: What combination of technologies creates the best overall outcome—not just for today’s product, but also for tomorrow’s?

This mindset shifts the goal from maximizing individual components to optimizing the full vehicle system over time.

The Risk of Overengineering

EV programs are under pressure to prove themselves—on range, charging time, acceleration, and more. It’s tempting to respond with a bigger battery, a stronger motor, or a more complex cooling system. But that kind of overengineering can lock teams into decisions that are difficult and costly to reverse.

For example, chasing longer range might require structural changes to accommodate a larger battery. That could limit flexibility for future battery chemistries, modular platform upgrades, or lightweight materials.

In short, building for the maximum today can reduce your options tomorrow.

The Smarter Tradeoff: Adaptability

From a systems perspective, the smartest design isn’t always the most powerful or efficient—it’s the one that leaves room for iteration, integration, and evolution.

This might mean:

Choosing battery enclosures that support multiple chemistries
Using software-defined architectures to future-proof hardware
Designing thermal systems that scale with modular components
Prioritizing vehicle platforms that adapt to regional or regulatory needs

Each of these choices requires cross-functional alignment early in the design process. Instead of teams optimizing their own corners of the vehicle, they collaborate to ensure every decision supports the system as a whole.

Why This Matters Now

Innovation in electrification and mobility is moving fast. What’s state-of-the-art today could be outdated in two product cycles—or sooner. Battery breakthroughs, regulatory shifts, and connectivity upgrades are forcing OEMs and suppliers to rethink what flexibility really means—not just in manufacturing, but in vehicle systems design.

At Magna, we work across every major vehicle domain to ensure systems are not just integrated, but designed to evolve. We’ve seen how this mindset leads to more resilient, future-ready platforms.

It’s not just about solving today’s toughest tradeoffs. It’s about building adaptability into the vehicle from day one.

Sharath Reddy

Sharath Reddy holds a Master of Science in Computer Engineering from Villanova University and a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics & Communications Engineering from Osmania University in India, and brings more than 35 years of experience in automotive electronics. At Magna, he leads global corporate R&D strategy across electrification, software-defined vehicles, ADAS, lightweighting, and advanced manufacturing, driving innovation and strategic partnerships to meet the evolving needs of automakers and consumers.