Engineering news
The average range of mainstream electric cars will be 100-150 miles (160-240km), said professor David Greenwood from the University of Warwick – more than enough for the 99% of car journeys in the UK that are less than 100 miles.
Speaking at the second annual Fisita Plus conference in London on Thursday, the professor of advanced propulsion systems said the cost of batteries is still the most significant challenge for car manufacturers.
Batteries affect every aspect of a car, with their weight and size impacting on efficiency, handling and cost. As a result, Greenwood said, companies will stop striving for increased range as plug-in hybrids and fully electric vehicles become more mainstream.
“For the mass market electric vehicle, you’re going to see the race for range plateau off,” he said.
“As you look at a more mature market where people are used to the experience of charging at home and driving during the day, the electric vehicle range of most of the vehicles in the car park outside will be something like 100-150 miles real-world. Even the plug-in hybrids will look to come down to something like 40 miles of real-world range, because the model there is to replace 80-90% of journeys, typically commuting journeys which are done in cities.”
Modular batteries that can be swapped out when empty and vehicle-sharing services could handle the remaining 1% of long-distance car journeys, Greenwood said.
Popular upmarket electric cars including the Jaguar i-Pace and Tesla Model X have ranges of around 300 miles, while the cheaper Nissan Leaf goes up to 235 miles.
Other speakers at the event included Stefan Deix, director of the European Council for Automotive R&D, Tom Westerndorp from AI and simulation specialists Nvidia, and Dan Hubert, CEO of smart parking company AppyParking.
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.