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https://freedium.cfd/https://medium.com/predict/this-tiny-sports-car-is-the-future-of-evs-46e1f2b0be0f>
"Electric vehicles are on the cusp of rendering their combustion rivals
obsolete. The best-selling cars in the world are now electric, and the charging
infrastructure is nearing maturity, particularly in places like Europe. But,
for EVs to truly dominate the market and decarbonise our roads, they need to
become significantly cheaper without sacrificing usability. They also need to
convince petrol heads they can offer an exhilarating driving experience, not
just fast acceleration. Only then will the mass market and performance buyers
switch to EVs. Well, a fully functional concept car by Nyobolt promises to do
just this by taking a novel approach to the EV.
The current trend to make EVs more usable is to give them huge, expensive,
heavy batteries, extending their range to well over 300 miles while trying to
keep fast charge times below 30 minutes. This has been a great tactic over the
past few years, allowing companies like Tesla, Polestar and Hyundai to sell EVs
in huge numbers. However, the average car journey in the US is only around 12
miles, and most owners only use the full extent of their range every now and
then. As such, this approach is incredibly wasteful, as the vast majority of
the time, you only use a fraction of the battery pack.
But there is another way to make EVs more usable. Rather than fitting a huge
battery, just fit one small one that is good enough for day-to-day driving, say
around 150 miles, but give it lightning-quick sub-5-minute charging so longer
journeys are viable. This is a way more efficient and intelligent approach as
the smaller battery uses far less material, takes way less carbon emission to
produce, is significantly cheaper, and dramatically improves the driver
characteristics of the car, making it more efficient, faster accelerating,
smoother riding, better braking and far better in harsh turns. Not only that,
but a smaller battery means the car can be packaged better, meaning the car
itself can be smaller for the same interior space, use less material, be
cheaper to produce, and even have larger, safer safety features such as crumple
zones.
In theory, this is a far better solution. But there are two huge problems.
Firstly, as batteries charge slower, the more charged they get; small battery
packs charge at a far slower average rate than a large battery pack made of the
same cells. So, making a small battery charge at lightning speeds is insanely
difficult. Moreover, fast-charging batteries tend to have a short lifespan,
bringing me to the second point: charge cycles. A smaller battery might have to
charge for 4 times to give the same range as a large one. As battery lifespan
is rated in the number of charge cycles, this means that a smaller battery
might only last for a quarter of the miles of a large one. As such, these
already hard-to-make superfast charging batteries must also last 4 times as
long as a typical lithium-ion battery to make this approach feasible. This
engineering nightmare has made this approach untenable for many manufacturers.
But not for UK-based battery company Nyobolt. Not only have they created the
perfect battery for this, but they have even made and tested a fully functional
lotus-inspired lightweight sports car using it to show how brilliant it can
be."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
