got me to thinking about how we can solve a huge conundrum in the EV industry.
This could derail the whole EV transition or delay it severely. There needs to be affordable and desirable EVs, and we’re not on track to do that.The obvious, sensible thing for most people would be to get a car with about double what they need in a given day. That way, they’ll cover all of their normal driving, and have plenty for those unusual days, too. The only thing an 80-mile EV wouldn’t cover for most people is that long, long tail of road trips.
One possibility is to give people the 300 miles of range with smaller batteries through efficiency. For example, the first versions of the Aptera off the line are going to come with battery packs of about 40 kWh. That much battery in a Nissan LEAF gives you around 150 miles of EPA-rated range. But, in the sleek Aptera, you can get up to 400 miles. That solves the problem nicely, but it comes at the cost of making the car a 2-seater and giving it very, very unconventional styling.
Another option would be to commit some serious heresy and use a range extender. I’ve talked about this quite a bit here, but the idea is that you can’t put in a normal ICE engine. A good REx car should be like the BMW i3 REx, or the upcoming Mazda with the small rotary range extender. The range extender needs to be light, small, and hopefully run smoothly. It’s only there to support highway driving, not to power the whole car for city driving on its own.
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