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Something these types of high performance electric cars are continually proving now, is you don't need fossil fuel cars to go fast. It's helping to change how p

by Tozen 4y ago

Something these types of high performance electric cars are continually proving now, is you don't need fossil fuel cars to go fast. It's helping to change how people think about cars, gasoline, and internal combustion engines. Someone's next sports car can easily be electric, beautiful, and fast.

logicalmonster 4y ago
> Something these types of high performance electric cars are continually proving now, is you don't need fossil fuel cars to go fast. It's helping to change how people think about cars, gasoline, and internal combustion engines. Someone's next sports car can easily be electric, beautiful, and fast. As far as I'm aware of how things work, compared to ICE vehicles, EVs currently have better instant torque but lower top speeds. That said, is there anybody who doesn't appreciate many of the nice qualities of electric engines? Just from the perspective of the engines, they're extremely fun toys and I think that opinion is close to universal. I think that most of the skepticism of EVs doesn't have anything remotely to do with the engine performance, but many of the complicated infrastructure and social factor questions surrounding their usage.
- jackmott42 4y ago
  Some EVs have lower top speeds because they don't bother with a transmission. If you wanted a high top speed, just add 1 or 2 gears and you are good to go. Imho the infrastructure required for them will be much simpler than the existing infrastructure required to power gasoline cars. All those underground tanks with trucks delivering toxic flammable fluids are replaced with modest upgrades to the grid (it doesn't take much, as refining a tank of gasoline requires as much electricity as charging an electric car). This transition is already well underway and many of us have been doing road trips with minimal or no pain for years already while others are still skeptical! Granted, there are still use cases that are difficult, like towing large things a long way.
  - akira2501 4y ago
    "The grid" is not a uniform piece of infrastructure with similar capacity or use patterns in all areas. I think people drastically underestimate the amount of time it will take to absorb these changes to a point where "critical mass" is reached. I'm very skeptical on the road trips part as well, it still appears you're going to spend 15% to 30% of your total trip time sitting at several chargers along the way. For day trips this might not be an issue, but for long range multi day trips, the patchy availability still seems to be a real problem. The intersection of Hotels and Motels with Supercharging On Site is still a very narrow proposition. I'm excited for the future, but I believe it's further away than most people readily acknowledge.
- dharmab 4y ago
  There's no reason an EV can't have a high top speed, it's just that most road going versions omit a transmission for weight and cost savings. Formula E cars can be configured for 200 mph.
  - saalweachter 4y ago
    At the same time ... there's (almost) no reason you need a car to go faster than the 90mph you get out of a Nissan Leaf or Chevy Bolt. It's like, neat that you can make an electric car as fast as anything else, but if road-going cars basically couldn't do more than 90 it'd be no great loss.
- WorldMaker 4y ago
  My understanding is that a factor in making EVs seem like they have lower top speeds is because of increased safety standards/laws in some countries. Those countries require speed limiters for speeds too far above highway speeds. Many ICE engine designs were grandfathered in without needing to be updated with such speed limiters, but EVs are new designs and don't meet any such "grandfathering" criteria.
  - dharmab 4y ago
    Your understanding is incorrect. Speed limiter laws have only been introduced or planned for commercial vehicles in major markets. AFAIK there is no jurisdiction planning speed limiters for personal vehicles (although there are informal agreements such as the 155mph limiter on German sports cars and the 186mph Japanese sportbike top speed). Also, there are laws in some countries regulating that vehicle top speed cannot exceed the speed rating of the stock tires, so some vehicles that would be otherwise capable of higher speeds sometimes have limiters so a less expensive tire can be shipped as standard equipment.
- mywittyname 4y ago
  > EVs currently have better instant torque but lower top speeds. Some also have limits on battery output. The Mustang MachE can only go full speed for 5 seconds before power is cut really drastically. So much so, that in a quarter mile drag race, the Mach E is as fast as a 5.0 to 60 MPH, but slower than a 2.3L to 100. Not that every EV has this weird limit, but it does exist. Plus, EVs are all quite heavy, and even though the weight balance is much better, they don't handle nearly as well. The writing is all the wall though, there will never be an EV Miata or GR86. Future vehicles are all going to be gigantic cars with hypercar acceleration and numb handling.
akira2501 4y ago
No.. but gasoline is still dominant in the "going far" and "recharging quickly" category. I think that's the more important issue to tackle with respect to the current consumer market.

by Tozen 4y ago

logicalmonster 4y ago

> Something these types of high performance electric cars are continually proving now, is you don't need fossil fuel cars to go fast. It's helping to change how people think about cars, gasoline, and internal combustion engines. Someone's next sports car can easily be electric, beautiful, and fast. As far as I'm aware of how things work, compared to ICE vehicles, EVs currently have better instant torque but lower top speeds. That said, is there anybody who doesn't appreciate many of the nice qualities of electric engines? Just from the perspective of the engines, they're extremely fun toys and I think that opinion is close to universal. I think that most of the skepticism of EVs doesn't have anything remotely to do with the engine performance, but many of the complicated infrastructure and social factor questions surrounding their usage.

jackmott42 4y ago
Some EVs have lower top speeds because they don't bother with a transmission. If you wanted a high top speed, just add 1 or 2 gears and you are good to go. Imho the infrastructure required for them will be much simpler than the existing infrastructure required to power gasoline cars. All those underground tanks with trucks delivering toxic flammable fluids are replaced with modest upgrades to the grid (it doesn't take much, as refining a tank of gasoline requires as much electricity as charging an electric car). This transition is already well underway and many of us have been doing road trips with minimal or no pain for years already while others are still skeptical! Granted, there are still use cases that are difficult, like towing large things a long way.
- akira2501 4y ago
  "The grid" is not a uniform piece of infrastructure with similar capacity or use patterns in all areas. I think people drastically underestimate the amount of time it will take to absorb these changes to a point where "critical mass" is reached. I'm very skeptical on the road trips part as well, it still appears you're going to spend 15% to 30% of your total trip time sitting at several chargers along the way. For day trips this might not be an issue, but for long range multi day trips, the patchy availability still seems to be a real problem. The intersection of Hotels and Motels with Supercharging On Site is still a very narrow proposition. I'm excited for the future, but I believe it's further away than most people readily acknowledge.
dharmab 4y ago
There's no reason an EV can't have a high top speed, it's just that most road going versions omit a transmission for weight and cost savings. Formula E cars can be configured for 200 mph.
- saalweachter 4y ago
  At the same time ... there's (almost) no reason you need a car to go faster than the 90mph you get out of a Nissan Leaf or Chevy Bolt. It's like, neat that you can make an electric car as fast as anything else, but if road-going cars basically couldn't do more than 90 it'd be no great loss.
WorldMaker 4y ago
My understanding is that a factor in making EVs seem like they have lower top speeds is because of increased safety standards/laws in some countries. Those countries require speed limiters for speeds too far above highway speeds. Many ICE engine designs were grandfathered in without needing to be updated with such speed limiters, but EVs are new designs and don't meet any such "grandfathering" criteria.
- dharmab 4y ago
  Your understanding is incorrect. Speed limiter laws have only been introduced or planned for commercial vehicles in major markets. AFAIK there is no jurisdiction planning speed limiters for personal vehicles (although there are informal agreements such as the 155mph limiter on German sports cars and the 186mph Japanese sportbike top speed). Also, there are laws in some countries regulating that vehicle top speed cannot exceed the speed rating of the stock tires, so some vehicles that would be otherwise capable of higher speeds sometimes have limiters so a less expensive tire can be shipped as standard equipment.
mywittyname 4y ago
> EVs currently have better instant torque but lower top speeds. Some also have limits on battery output. The Mustang MachE can only go full speed for 5 seconds before power is cut really drastically. So much so, that in a quarter mile drag race, the Mach E is as fast as a 5.0 to 60 MPH, but slower than a 2.3L to 100. Not that every EV has this weird limit, but it does exist. Plus, EVs are all quite heavy, and even though the weight balance is much better, they don't handle nearly as well. The writing is all the wall though, there will never be an EV Miata or GR86. Future vehicles are all going to be gigantic cars with hypercar acceleration and numb handling.

akira2501 4y ago

No.. but gasoline is still dominant in the "going far" and "recharging quickly" category. I think that's the more important issue to tackle with respect to the current consumer market.