Electric vehicle (EV) is not just a change in fuel, or energy source. It is a new paradigm in mobility and hence it brings with it possibilities of disruptive innovations in the way a vehicle, or even the transportation system, is designed. The future lightweight EVs, thus, may adopt lightweighting strategies that not only covers innovations in materials, design and joining technologies, but also in the form of new approaches towards systems integration, drivetrain configurations, packaging, and thermal management, et cetera. In the first part of this article on trends in lightweighting of Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), we review the various possible drive configurations.