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Range is easy: just add more battery. It’s expensive, but this is an expensive car.

by mikeash 7y ago

martin_a 7y ago
But space and weight are limited on a supercar. So you have to choose one.
- dharmab 7y ago
  They have a lot to work with since their competitors have to carry V10, V12 and W16 engines
- Robotbeat 7y ago
  Not if you’re battery-limited in performance. An ideal performance electric car is all battery and motor with the weight of everything else reduced as much as possible. That naturally means your battery will be way over-sized compared to a typical electric car. Electric batteries are power-limited as well as energy-limited. So if you want more power, you need a bigger battery. (Alternate chemistries are also possible, but even then you reach a practical limit.) The naive approach is to think of a battery like a gasoline tank, whose size and capacity you want to minimize if you’re going for performance records. But really it’s part of of the powertrain, and having a larger battery brings a bunch of other benefits like longer lifetime (in miles driven), charge & discharge speed (in kilowatts), higher thermal mass (can handle those big spurts of power that might temporarily exceed the cooling system’s capacity), and higher electrical efficiency at a given discharge speed (a larger battery at a given voltage has lower internal resistance, thus less resistive losses and less heat generation).
- mikeash 7y ago
  Space is no problem. Make the floor a bit thicker, done. Look at how much space the battery takes up in other Teslas... if you can find it. Added weight is not desirable but it’s not a dealbreaker.
gnode 7y ago
Speed / power is a similar affair; a bigger battery is essentially more battery cells, and more power. The increased weight doesn't significantly detract from top speed, as air resistance dominates. In fact, additional weight increases down-force on the road, and thus the maximum force the wheels can apply.

Range is easy: just add more battery. It’s expensive, but this is an expensive car.

martin_a 7y ago

But space and weight are limited on a supercar. So you have to choose one.

dharmab 7y ago
They have a lot to work with since their competitors have to carry V10, V12 and W16 engines
Robotbeat 7y ago
Not if you’re battery-limited in performance. An ideal performance electric car is all battery and motor with the weight of everything else reduced as much as possible. That naturally means your battery will be way over-sized compared to a typical electric car. Electric batteries are power-limited as well as energy-limited. So if you want more power, you need a bigger battery. (Alternate chemistries are also possible, but even then you reach a practical limit.) The naive approach is to think of a battery like a gasoline tank, whose size and capacity you want to minimize if you’re going for performance records. But really it’s part of of the powertrain, and having a larger battery brings a bunch of other benefits like longer lifetime (in miles driven), charge & discharge speed (in kilowatts), higher thermal mass (can handle those big spurts of power that might temporarily exceed the cooling system’s capacity), and higher electrical efficiency at a given discharge speed (a larger battery at a given voltage has lower internal resistance, thus less resistive losses and less heat generation).
mikeash 7y ago
Space is no problem. Make the floor a bit thicker, done. Look at how much space the battery takes up in other Teslas... if you can find it. Added weight is not desirable but it’s not a dealbreaker.

gnode 7y ago

Speed / power is a similar affair; a bigger battery is essentially more battery cells, and more power. The increased weight doesn't significantly detract from top speed, as air resistance dominates. In fact, additional weight increases down-force on the road, and thus the maximum force the wheels can apply.