The EV Transition Is Harder Than Anyone Thinks

Re:The EV Transition Is Harder Than Anyone Thinks by YZF on Tuesday March 28, 2023 @09:20PM (#35350759)

I'm not sure this is true. They're a lot heavier and on most cars the brakes should be powerful enough to lock the wheels which is the max braking power you're going to get.

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Re:The EV Transition Is Harder Than Anyone Thinks by rootusrootus on Tuesday March 28, 2023 @11:11PM (#35351822)

> They're a lot heavier

A bit heavier, but not "a lot." A model 3 is between around 3600 and just over 4000 pounds, depending on trim. Not far off a similar size ICE vehicle.

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Re:The EV Transition Is Harder Than Anyone Thinks by jjav on Wednesday March 29, 2023 @03:19AM (#35353751)

> A bit heavier, but not "a lot."

To compare a car which is available in both ICE and EV, a 2018 Fiat 500e (electric, with a tiny battery bank good for only ~90 miles) weighs almost 3000 pounds, whereas the same car with ICE is ~2400lb.

25% more weight is a lot on a car.

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Re:The EV Transition Is Harder Than Anyone Thinks by rootusrootus on Wednesday March 29, 2023 @10:53AM (#35358144)

The 500E is a retrofit of an ICE, not a ground-up EV. All you can derive from that comparison is that retrofitting is inefficient.

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Re:The EV Transition Is Harder Than Anyone Thinks by jjav on Thursday March 30, 2023 @03:27AM (#35369286)

> The 500E is a retrofit of an ICE, not a ground-up EV. All you can derive from that comparison is that retrofitting is inefficient.

That's all true, but I'm uncertain how much difference it can make. The bulk of the weight difference comes from the batteries, which will be there whether a retrofit or new design. Everything related to the ICE systems was removed, so it's not like there was any leftover weight from the conversion.

Weight distribution can likely be better in a chassis designed solely for EV, but total weight seems likely to be about the same either way.

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