Race on for 1000km range EV

Only a 100kWh battery pack is in the Mercedes-Benz luxury Vision EQS concept car, yet it will deliver 700km range partly because of low drag factors.

That’s now going to be taken seriously, learning from Tesla, says IDTechEx chairman Dr Peter Harrop following its reports Electric Vehicles 2020-2030 and Solar Cars, Buses, Trucks and Trains 2020-2030.

Range sells EVs, he says. Long range ones sell in 100 times the numbers and have three times the resale value. Also, at the very expensive end, Lightyear One five-seat solar cars on sale hold the record at around 730km. The new Porsche Taycan seriously rivals Teslas in range but not at Lightyear distances because they have scorching performance, Harrop adds.

Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk promises his next Roadster will achieve 1000km, presumably without solar because “solar is not very helpful”. His sports car will have little suitable area for solar.

The challenge will be to achieve 750km-1000km without massive 120kWh batteries compounding issues of safety, cost, space, weight, ride, supply shortages and toxicity.

Lightyear manages with only 60kWh achieved with help from a spartan interior, lowest drag factor and in-wheel axial-flux motors of highest kW/kg.

Range extends battery life.

Meanwhile, Hyundai and sister company Kia have hit the button with affordable pure-electric cars with good range. Hyundai has a small high-efficiency solar roof on its affordable Sonata hybrid. It adds 10% to range for light users. Hyundai promises two more types of advanced solar roof that will increase range on its pure-electric cars.

”The race is on for 1000km range for most pure electric road vehicles, often exceeding the range of increasingly illegal, unloved internal-combustion vehicles.”

Smart materials and structural electronics are now key enabling technologies for EVs and feature in Electric Vehicles – Everything is Changing, part of the IDTechEx Show in Santa Clara, November 20-21. Porsche, Hyundai, GM, Aston Martin, BMW, Geely (Volvo to Volocopter), Airbus and the world’s leading smart material companies such as Asahi Kasei, Sabic, DuPont, Zeon, Arkema are presenting or exhibiting. So are the research centres of the US Army, US Navy and United Technologies.

Expect more than 3500 paying delegates, 270 exhibitors and 250 speakers.

Hear Bye Aerospace on its long-range pure-electric aircraft with optional solar body adding 100km to its already record range and its huge orderbook.

Visit www.IDTechEx.com/Research/EV or Research@IDTechEx.com for more information.