Stellantis last week detailed its STLA Large platform, which the automaker claims can house powertrains able to hurling an EV from 0-60 mph in 2.0 seconds.
That breathtaking acceleration figure could also be something Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares now claims is a security feature.
That is because quick acceleration allows for quicker overtaking, Tavares told Top Gear and other media, using the necessity to overtake a slow-moving truck on a two-lane road for example.
STLA Large platform
“The more acceleration you might have, the safer the conditions under which you overtake may be,” Tavares said, “and from that perspective the BEV technology is great as everyone knows.” The concept appears to be that a 2.0-second acceleration time is inherently safer than the still-quick acceleration times of other EVs.
In Stellantis’ case, nevertheless, performance will likely come at the associated fee of efficiency. The automaker has described the STLA Large platform as supporting 500 miles of range from 118-kwh battery packs in efficient sedans, or 2.0-second acceleration in performance cars just like the Dodge electric muscle automotive tipped to make use of the platform. It’s an either/or proposition.
Generally, the quicker you make an EV, the more rigorous its battery cooling and bigger other components should be—so that you lose efficiency. Porsche engineers told Green Automobile Reports at one point that had they engineered the 800-volt Taycan for range above performance, they might have achieved a much higher range.
The Kia EV6 GT, as an example, is simply rated at 206 miles, while in other slower-accelerating versions it’s rated as much as 310 miles. And the Lucid Air Sapphire cannot match the Air Grand Touring model’s 516 miles of range, despite similar battery capability.
Dodge Charger Daytona Concept
As for Tavares’ claim that acceleration boosts safety, what he’s arguing could also be a fringe case and really depending on driver restraint.Because the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) argued in 2021, even slight increases within the speed of crashes can have dire consequences on human end result. Within the terms of physics, acceleration may allow dodging some crashes, but it surely makes the terminal velocity much higher for others. It also amplifies the concerns concerning the dangers of heavy EVs to other motorists.
It is important to notice that in a 2020 evaluation, the related Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) found that the crash rate and monetary losses for EV was actually lower versus conventional vehicles—a head-scratching difference versus what insurers and a few firms including Hertz have continued to argue. Although a few of these EVs might need higher horsepower and stronger acceleration, at the least early on real-world results didn’t go together with the HLDI’s own longtime guidance that, for younger drivers especially, sports cars and higher-horsepower vehicles, together with smaller vehicles, had higher crash rates.
In brief, stay tuned for more data. Especially as more non-Tesla EVs hit the road in larger numbers, we’ll see if higher-power, quicker-accelerating EVs are in fast safer, or whether or not they attract among the same risk-prone drivers as those sports cars did prior to now.
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with reporting by Bengt Halvorson
This Article First Appeared At www.greencarreports.com
