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Makes me wonder if this came to pass. Could an electric car be too light? Is there a minimum weight a car needs to be? If the battery got small and you don’t

Makes me wonder if this came to pass. Could an electric car be too light? Is there a minimum weight a car needs to be? If the battery got small and you don’t have the ice, could it be a problem? Would they add weights?

bluGill 7y ago
An ice is actually pretty light in some cars. Aluminum blocks save a lot of weight. In economy cars you can lift both out by hand (I wouldn't recommend it, the angles are not really what your body handle well but a normal human can do it) Most of the weight in a car is the frame which is a lot heavier today than similar cars of 30 years ago to pass modern safety standards. Even if there is too little weight it is best for the required components to be as light as possible. The ability to add weight where you need it for handling reasons verses where the drive train forces it to be is often important.
- baybal2 7y ago
  > Most of the weight in a car is the frame which is a lot heavier today than similar cars of 30 years ago to pass modern safety standards. Yes, this is what I was saying to people that a lot of crash worthiness demands now are counterproductive when everybody now drives 1.5, 2.0t bricks on wheels because of that. Yes, that allowed for few more percents survivability in head on collisions, but at the huge expense of everything else. Being able to shave off 200kg off an average vehicle will save way more lives than the amount of lives those 200kg save during 60km/h+ head on collisions.
dougmwne 7y ago
For sure! F = μN, so if the weight of the vehicle is too low there will be very little friction force keeping the tires from losing traction while breaking accelerating and turning. Practically speaking, it's common to load your pick-up truck with sand bags in snowy environments in order to increase the amount of weight on the back tires since some models of pick-ups don't have much weight in the back half. Personally, I have fishtailed off the road when there was nothing in the truck bed in icy weather.
- zamfi 7y ago
  Indeed F = μN, but also F = ma, so you don't need as much F to accelerate a lighter vehicle (that is, one with lower m). What you're describing about your pickup is the balance of weight, not the total weight.
  - Skunkleton 7y ago
    You are forgetting forces to overcome effects which are independent of mass. For example, you might find that your car is blown off the road by a light breeze.
    - zamfi 7y ago
      Hah, yeah, an earlier version of my post said something about external/edge effects as you approach 0 mass, but I didn't think it was germane to my main point. > For example, you might find that your car is blown off the road by a light breeze. We should be so lucky! An EV as light as a bike...
      - rootusrootus 7y ago
        I wonder where the danger point really is. I've driven some lighter, smaller cars that were borderline dangerous in a stiff crosswind.
m463 7y ago
Your comment reminds me of a FAQ I read years and years ago when the internet was first starting. It was for a male enhancement product, and one of the questions was basically how large should I let this thing get? :)
- saagarjha 7y ago
  What as the answer?
DennisP 7y ago
Just add more battery, nothing wrong with having more range.

bluGill 7y ago

An ice is actually pretty light in some cars. Aluminum blocks save a lot of weight. In economy cars you can lift both out by hand (I wouldn't recommend it, the angles are not really what your body handle well but a normal human can do it) Most of the weight in a car is the frame which is a lot heavier today than similar cars of 30 years ago to pass modern safety standards. Even if there is too little weight it is best for the required components to be as light as possible. The ability to add weight where you need it for handling reasons verses where the drive train forces it to be is often important.

baybal2 7y ago
> Most of the weight in a car is the frame which is a lot heavier today than similar cars of 30 years ago to pass modern safety standards. Yes, this is what I was saying to people that a lot of crash worthiness demands now are counterproductive when everybody now drives 1.5, 2.0t bricks on wheels because of that. Yes, that allowed for few more percents survivability in head on collisions, but at the huge expense of everything else. Being able to shave off 200kg off an average vehicle will save way more lives than the amount of lives those 200kg save during 60km/h+ head on collisions.

dougmwne 7y ago

For sure! F = μN, so if the weight of the vehicle is too low there will be very little friction force keeping the tires from losing traction while breaking accelerating and turning. Practically speaking, it's common to load your pick-up truck with sand bags in snowy environments in order to increase the amount of weight on the back tires since some models of pick-ups don't have much weight in the back half. Personally, I have fishtailed off the road when there was nothing in the truck bed in icy weather.

zamfi 7y ago
Indeed F = μN, but also F = ma, so you don't need as much F to accelerate a lighter vehicle (that is, one with lower m). What you're describing about your pickup is the balance of weight, not the total weight.
- Skunkleton 7y ago
  You are forgetting forces to overcome effects which are independent of mass. For example, you might find that your car is blown off the road by a light breeze.
  - zamfi 7y ago
    Hah, yeah, an earlier version of my post said something about external/edge effects as you approach 0 mass, but I didn't think it was germane to my main point. > For example, you might find that your car is blown off the road by a light breeze. We should be so lucky! An EV as light as a bike...
    - rootusrootus 7y ago
      I wonder where the danger point really is. I've driven some lighter, smaller cars that were borderline dangerous in a stiff crosswind.

m463 7y ago

Your comment reminds me of a FAQ I read years and years ago when the internet was first starting. It was for a male enhancement product, and one of the questions was basically how large should I let this thing get? :)

saagarjha 7y ago
What as the answer?

DennisP 7y ago

Just add more battery, nothing wrong with having more range.