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

  • Los Angeles Express Lanes links multiple modes of transportation
    January 25, 2012
    The Big Apple's loss is the City of Angels's gain, according to Ken Philmus
  • Eco fuel economy
    April 19, 2012
    A study conducted by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland suggests that there is practically no difference between commercial petrol grades 95E10 and 98E5 sold in Finland with regard to fuel consumption during normal driving. The finding is based on driving tests conducted by VTT using six used cars of different make under laboratory conditions. It has been claimed in public that fuel consumption is higher with 95E10 petrol than with its predecessor 95E or the 98E5 petrol currently on the market. The su
  • Nissan sparks EV payment 'integration'
    August 12, 2020
    Electricity from EV batteries can be discharged to fund parking in Yokohama
  • Mexico City seeks solutions to improve air quality
    December 6, 2017
    David Crawford ponders prospects for one of the world’s most congested and polluted cities. In 1992, the United Nations named Mexico City as the world’s most polluted urban centre. In the first half of 2016, following the updating of pollution alert limits to meet international standards, Mexico recorded 115 days where ozone concentrations exceeded the acute exposure health limit.