Forget electric car range, charging speed will be key when we find the battery size sweet spot
Editor Paul Barker wonders what the sweet spot is between EV battery sizes and weight
I’ve had a couple of interesting chats in recent weeks about the ‘right’ size for EV batteries. Manufacturers are battling to find the balance between cars with enough range for drivers not to worry about running out of charge, while keeping weight and bulk down.
It’s something of an impossible problem, particularly while we’re still in the early stages of electric cars being accepted into the mainstream. People need the comfort blanket of a big range figure when they start driving an EV, until they get the experience to know that the range isn’t suddenly going to plunge and strand them, and until they can trust the public charging network.
But there are now many cars with an official range of well over 300 miles, and while that figure will rise as efficiency improves, hopefully the race to fit bigger batteries will peak at around 100kW, before the issue of charging speed becomes the focus.
Bentley CEO Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser likened it to fuel tanks, saying there’s no demand for 200-litre tanks that can go 2,000 miles between fill-ups – you reach a point where the weight, packaging and cost are counter-productive.
And even when we think about charging time, Dr Walliser said that it’s maybe not necessary for recharging to match how long it takes to fill a car with petrol.
That makes sense when you consider that EVs can leave home with a full charge every time (as long as you can charge at home – if not, then EVs are far more tricky to justify). So it’s only when you’re trying to complete a round trip of over 250 miles that the issue of charge speed really becomes relevant. According to Bentley’s boss: “It’s not about range, it’s travel time – where is the sweet spot to get from 10-80 per cent so you can continue your journey?”
His argument is that as long as the car’s ready to go in the time it takes for a comfort break and a cuppa, then that will work just fine for most people, and the cost of developing super-fast tech probably isn’t worth it. Or, as he puts it, the “Concorde effect”. The argument being that while there was initially huge clamour to get across the Atlantic in a few hours, after a while people came to the conclusion that the compromise of a slightly longer trip that was more comfortable and cheaper was worth it. Maybe that’s how to see EVs. But only if you can charge at home!
What should be the minimum range for an electric car? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section...
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