What’s more important: fast charging or the ability to travel long distances on a single charge? There is no consensus among electric car owners on this issue.
It is unlikely that in the next few years we will get a single answer to this question, because while they list the advantages of both options, experts also point out the disadvantages. Therefore, at least for now, the winners seem to be those producers who follow the golden way.
Looking for solutions
If you delve into the electric car market, you will find that manufacturers are implementing different strategies. For example, companies like France’s Peugeot seek to attract a wide range of buyers and work to meet the needs of the majority. The vehicles of this company can be recharged quite quickly and with a single charge they have a rather long range.
Representatives of the premium segment of electric cars, such as Porsche Taycan and Audi e-Tron, already charge up to 80% in 20 minutes. Peugeot can do it in 30 minutes, but some skeptics find it too long. However, technical progress does not stop: the technology company StoreDot says that in ten years it will be possible to charge the battery for a journey of 160 km in two minutes.
At the same time, some expensive car manufacturers are going in the opposite direction, believing that the main trump card in the eyes of buyers is a great battery. One that, without “if” and “if”, allows you to cover a significant distance, approaching the capabilities of internal combustion machines in this sense.
There are not only advantages
According to Kārlis Mendziņš, creator of the electric mobility site Uzlādēts.lv, both charging speed and battery capacity are important for car owners. He also remembers that every solution, along with its advantages, also has its disadvantages.
“Currently the maximum capacity of the battery is around 120 kWh, but it weighs 700 kilograms. So if we wanted a mileage of 1,000 kilometers, the battery alone would weigh 1.2 tons,” estimates the expert. For comparison: the Peugeot e-2008 family crossover with a 50 kWh battery weighs 1,623 kilograms without load. Using a 100 kW charger, its energy reserves can be replenished from zero to 80 percent in half an hour.
The large extra weight may not be a problem for passenger cars, but in the case of light commercial vehicles it would reduce cargo space and, more importantly, severely degrade cargo capacity. “With current technologies, it is possible to double the battery capacity, but this creates a problem with the mass of the car,” said the editor of Uzlādēts.lv.
There are other nuances. For example, if you have to stop charging every now and then when traveling with your family, that’s a good thing rather than a bad thing. “If there are small children in the car, you will hardly drive more than two or three hours in a trip. Therefore, I would not say that an electric car is absolutely necessary in this case, which can travel many hundreds of kilometers on a single charge”, says Kārlis Mendziņš.
The infrastructure is gradually adapting
Karlis regularly posts news on his website that manufacturers have developed a battery that can be charged with very high power. “The news about the technology is very interesting because it shows what we can expect in the future. However, living in the here and now, we have to be realistic: in most Latvian fast stations, the battery can be charged with 50 kW, although the models of recent years can accept many times more power Let’s say that today a model is released that can be loaded with 500 kW, but when will stations of this capacity be available? asks the author of Uzladėts.lv rhetorically.
Another aspect is important: the installation of a large power plant and the preparation of the necessary infrastructure takes a long time. “If a manufacturer releases a super fast charging car today, the infrastructure will reach its capacities in five years. Any element of the infrastructure requires large investments and no one will change the stations already installed due to the new models,” says Kārlis.
High capacity more suitable for heavy transport
“In my opinion, superfast charging is required for heavy transport. It has a completely different intensity of work and no downtime is allowed. Such machines should be able to be reloaded at the end of each journey, for example during loading or unloading. or while the driver has a mandatory break. Currently this mode is not suitable for long-distance transport, but the situation could change with the advent of self-driving cars, which will not have to stop for a mandatory break every nine hours. But here I’m already talking about the future “, says the creator of Uzlādēts.lv.
But focusing on one performance aspect isn’t worth it. It is more reasonable to compare your daily needs with the technical abilities of a particular model and seriously think about how realistic it would be to change your daily habits a little. “Due to the lack of experience, many imagine the switch to an electric car as an event that will change their entire life. The reality is much more prosaic: due to the particularities of the car, you may have to adapt your life a little. daily, but you quickly get used to the new life and in the end everything is very simple “, says Kārlis.
Furthermore, it is not worth looking back with nostalgia at the technical data of expensive electric cars and wondering if it is not worth waiting for them to be available in the economy class as well. Unfortunately, such hope is not particularly justified – cars in the affordable price segment will not become so soon. “Obviously everyone has their own car, but I would still recommend reviewing the offer in the small and compact class, because the models with a 50 kWh battery, 100 kW charging capacity and a range of 300 km are likely to fully meet the requirements. your main needs. Better an acorn in the hand than a hunter in a tree “, adds Kārlis.
Prices and tariffs for internal combustion cars can also be an incentive
It is impossible to predict exactly when super large batteries and super fast charging will reach ordinary consumers. Perhaps even earlier, higher tariffs for gasoline and diesel cars will come into effect, as well as various restrictions.
“This decade will bring many changes. First, the Euro7 standard will negatively affect the cost of an internal combustion car and, consequently, its price. Secondly, more and more areas will be created where only emissions cars will be able to drive. zero. In Riga there is also a low-emission zone. Thirdly, all kinds of commissions will change. Under the influence of this, motorists will certainly think about how to organize their daily routes and which driving is better to choose “, sums up Kārlis Mendziņš.
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