Skip to main content

Battery vehicle ‘now viable for very long distances’

The Tesla 3 gets nearly double the range of the Nissan Leaf by using nearly double the amount of battery but engineers are using a multitude of work rounds to do better: aerodynamics, light-weighting even including structural electronics where dumb structure is replaced by supercapacitors or solid state batteries. Add more efficient motors and powertrain, says Dr Peter Harrop, chairman of IDTechEx Research in its report Industrial and Commercial Electric Vehicles on Land 2016-2026. He goes on to say that
June 23, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The Tesla 3 gets nearly double the range of the 838 Nissan Leaf by using nearly double the amount of battery but engineers are using a multitude of work rounds to do better: aerodynamics, light-weighting even including structural electronics where dumb structure is replaced by supercapacitors or solid state batteries. Add more efficient motors and powertrain, says Dr Peter Harrop, chairman of 6582 IDTechEx Research in its report Industrial and Commercial Electric Vehicles on Land 2016-2026.

He goes on to say that fuel cell hybrids retain the cachet of most expensive solution with a long on-road charging time if you factor in the time to find that rarity, the hydrogen charger. Very long distance with large hydrogen tanks is impracticable.

However, IDTechEx believes that there is an excellent solution being proved for the long distance battery vehicle, starting with trucks. The battery does not expand to an unwieldy 400kWh.

A new dynamic charging approach was presented at EVS29 Canada by Patrik Akerman of 189 Siemens. Dynamic charging is a term most often applied to coils in the road that charge the vehicle as it goes along but, as he pointed out, this has severe difficulties with roads wearing out early, safety and damage from vehicles and roadworks. Height variations, snow, dirt, cost and other problems have been cited by others. Following a study, Siemens has decided not to work on this. Akerman favours the elegant, affordable solution of intermittent overhead catenary at a mere Euros 2.2 million per kilometre for charging trucks on the move which means that they can still overtake (the old trolley buses could not).

The whole of Germany could be served in this way with only 400 km of catenary. The German authorities find it feasible and desirable. There are trials now in several other countries. Cost is a fraction of fuel cell and other alternatives: installation is easy. IDTechEx finds that inductive charging is great for the car at home and premium cars are adopting it.

IDTechEx believes that fuel cell vehicles will succeed in niche markets when attractive unique selling propositions are identified.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Shell consortium plans bulk hydrogen production project
    September 4, 2017
    A consortium of Shell Deutschland Oil and Shell Energy Europe with partners ITM Power, SINTEF, thinkstep and Element Energy plans a project to install a large scale electrolyser to produce hydrogen at the Wesseling refinery site within the Rheinland Refinery Complex. With a capacity of ten megawatts, this would be the largest unit of its kind in Germany and the world’s largest PEM (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane) electrolyser.
  • Dutch survey shows drivers are in favour of road user charging
    January 16, 2012
    'Keep it simple, stupid' is an oft-forgotten axiom but in terms of road user charging it is entirely appropriate. So says the ANWB's Ferry Smith. A couple of decades ago, it might have been largely true that the technology aspects of advanced road infrastructure were the main obstacles to deployment. However, 20 years or more of development have led to a situation where such 'obstacles' are often no more than a political fig-leaf. Area-wide Road User Charging (RUC) is a case in point; speak candidly to syst
  • Norway continues to lead global electric vehicle market
    September 23, 2016
    Norway continues to lead the global market for electric vehicles, according to the most recent plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) index from IHS Automotive, part of business information provider IHS Markit. Plug-in electric vehicles are defined as either a pure Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) or a Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV). Based on analysis of new vehicle registrations during the first quarter 2016, one out of every three vehicles registered in Norway during the quarter was a plug-in electric vehicle, r
  • Cohda trial proves C-ITS can work in tunnels
    August 29, 2019
    Connected cars require uninterrupted signals to ensure driving safety. Going underground creates problems – but a trial in Norway suggests that there might be light at the end of the tunnel… As connectivity becomes increasingly important for transportation – in particular for connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AVs) - the problem of ‘blackspots’ and dead zones where signals fail or drop out is a pressing one. But developments early this year suggest that advances in technology might be on the brink of d