Revolution Nissan will launch an electric with solid-state battery in 2028
2022 Edition We tested the Kia EV6, Car of the Year in Europe
From
Sindelfingen (Germany) to Cassais, on the French Côte d'Azur, at speeds of up to 140 km/h, with all kinds of roads - they even had to cross the Swiss Alps - and weather conditions.
A trip of 1,008 kilometers in which just over 12 hours were spent at an average speed of 87.4 km/h without having to stop to 'refuel' even once.
It could be the data of a very efficient diesel, even of a bi-fuel hybrid with two tanks.
But no, the crush has been marked by the Mercedes EQXX, a 100% electric experimental car that not only covered that distance without stopping to recharge.
It is that his battery still had 15% charge left, equivalent to another 140 km.
Translated into average consumption, an expense of only 8.7 kWh per 100 km, something not even within the reach of utility models;
and almost half of what other sedans homologate
– the Mercedes is almost five meters long – like a Tesla Model 3.
A laboratory on wheels
Eureka!
users of battery-powered cars could exclaim, still subject to the so-called 'range anxiety', that fear of being a shooter because the battery of their car does not last for more kilometers.
Not so fast.
The brand, which wants to demonstrate its technological power with this project, affirms that the solutions used in the EQXX will flow into its future series models
.
But it is so much and so extreme that it reminds -starting with the design- of the VW XL1, another rolling laboratory with which the German manufacturer managed to standardize an average consumption of 0.9 liters of diesel per 100 km.
And it is that everything in the EQXX is designed to maximize efficiency,
with extraordinary
aerodynamics
(Cx only 0.17) and a
weight
of 1,755 kilos, little for an electric five meters long.
This is helped by light materials and
the battery
of 100 kWh, 50% smaller and 30% lighter (it weighs 495 kilos) than that of the Mercedes EQS, thanks to an energy density of 400 wh/l.
The car even has
solar panels and specific Bridgestone tires.
How much autonomy does a gasoline Porsche have?
In addition, it is worth asking if it makes sense to reach these levels of electric autonomy.
Because right now there are many
combustion cars with engines that one tank gives them to travel 300, 400 or 500 km.
And no one tears their hair:
they stop at a gas station and in five minutes, they're on the move again.
So the solution seems to come more from the side of reload speed and network development.
There are already poles that supply electricity at 400 kW and cars that recharge at 270 kW.
Given that the optimal range of use of a battery is between 20% and 80% of its capacity, calculate
how long it would take to recover that percentage if the battery in your car has about 100 kWh of capacity, right now the maximum that can be used. offers.
It would be minutes.
Without going that far, do the same for a car with a 70 kW battery that recharges at 150 kW, poles that are much more common.
Weight, performance and efficiency
Elon Musk, the guru responsible for much of the boost in electrification,
has already scrapped a version of the Tesla Model S with a 1,000-kilometer range.
To have that reserve that he would rarely use in one go, «99.9% of the time, the client would be carrying unnecessary mass, with losses in performance and efficiency.
In addition, most of them have 600 km to spare »he assured.
The issue may be resolved with the solid-state batteries that will replace the current lithium-ion batteries with liquid electrolyte.
Nissan will launch its first model with this technology in 2028, which promises great advantages.
The battery will be able to reduce its weight by half
(or maintaining that weight, double its capacity), being also useful in very large vehicles, including pick-ups;
recharging time will be reduced by a third and the cost of production will drop to 65 dollars per kWh
of capacity, which would match prices with a combustion car.
The charging network is slow, slow
The more recharging points there are and the faster, the less absolute autonomy the batteries should have (within logical limits).
The problem is that this network does not grow at the desired rate: between 2017 and 2021, the sale of electric vehicles multiplied by 10, while the number of chargers increased 2.5 times in the same period.
This has meant that, in Spain, at the end of 2021 there were only 13,400 recharging points and of these, barely a hundred with powers equal to or greater than 150 kWh, according to data from the Spanish manufacturers' association Anfac.
This has designed a plan according to which there should be between
340,000 and 360,000 recharging posts in the year 2030. And of these, at least 1%, with a power of at least 250 kWh
and placed in the main corridors with a maximum separation between them of 100 km.
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