Very interesting video, I learned a lot. I still would at least partially disagree with your statement: Modern power electronics certainly significantly benefit EV range (and comfort) but they alone are not capable of delivering the tremendous range increase we have seen in the last 5 - 10 years. The true limiting factor was always - the size - the weight - the cost - the charging time of the battery. Size and weight limits effective range even when cost is of no concern. Costs limits you customer base to rich enthusiasts. Charging Time limits your realistic roads trips to the range of one full charge. To the panic of BigOil and combustion engine parts suppliers, those issues are increasingly mitigated: - Higher energy density and better packaging allow for ranges comparable to a petrol engine. - There is still a weight penality but if the dubious trend towards obese SUVS prove anything.... than that people dont care about the weight of their vehicle.... which makes sense.... because why I am driving a motorized vehicle in the first place... certainly not to worry about a few hundred kgs. - Cost is going down rapidly due to economies of scale and billions sunk into research and development. When Volkswagen started to invest big into EVs, it was assumed that they could drop battery cost to maybe 100 € /kWh capacity. They got it down to 80€ /kWh instead. By now, changes are good, that the maintainance and wear and tear parts of an ICE will cost you more than a replacement battery. (Yes, distribution is differently... an ICE will bill you a lot of smaller sums that over time get big, while the EV will be very cheap to run until the hammer arrives. If it arrives that is... so far average battery lifetime exceeds all expectations and in most cases, batteries just degrade, reducing range. With a big battery, that loss of range may not much affect useability. - Modern technology makes it possible to charge larger batteries at hundreds of KW per hours which reduces the time penality of charging on long range compared to refuelling to 15 - 20 minutes per stop. And since most people favour a short break after 350 km anyway..... Improvements to battery capacity and charging speed also allows battery electric vehicles into areas, where they have been considered non viable until quite recently. Hydrogen fans had so high hopes for trucks and commercial vehicles.....yet their niche of applications shrinks everyday. Very interesting read, thank you.
When it will not blow the whole town in an accident. This was one of the potential things that Ford made that was abandonned
Did you know that aparently ,in exchange of exporting their products to the soviet Union, Pepsi was given military vehicles ?
I did. Pepsi was indeed given decommissioned Soviet military vehicles, making it so, for a brief moment, Pepsi had the sixth-largest navy in the world.
