Fastest Electric Vehicles
Here’s a cool infographic called “The Fastest Electric Vehicles on Earth” that I thought readers would enjoy, from these folks. What they say here is certainly true: we tend to think of EVs as slow, glorified golf carts. Yet those of us who have driven Teslas have quite a different impression; they’re little rockets, with better acceleration than Porsches.
There is also a good discussion of the Catch 22 facing the EV adoption curve. They’ll be expensive until they’re common, but they’ll be uncommon until they’re inexpensive.
Even 100 years ago, they had electric cars that could go almost 100 mph. Of course, they couldn’t maintain that speed for very long. There were also electric cars 100 years ago that had a range > 100 miles, but only when the speed was limited to not much greater than a walking speed.
Because the power to overcome aerodynamic drag increases with the cube of the velocity, a seemingly modest increase in speed greatly reduces the range. Fortunately, improving battery technology is making it possible to have a respectable range at normal driving speeds.
Speed is not the goal we need to pursue, we already have the speed in EV, The fact is the availability isn’t aligned with the Combustion Vehicle market we are so desperate to displace. There are 30,000 new Highway EV available annually from the manufacturers / dealers at $20 to $120K each. And those are selling reasonably well. However the Used vehicle market which is typically 80% of vehicle sales is being supplied by used gold cart dealers as there are 150,000 used golf carts replaced each year on the nations golf courses and offered for sale for $4K to $6K (Another 25% of the carts are gasoline.) We need to reach the Used Vehicle Market with Electric “conversions” at an average price in the $15K pricing bracket ($10K to $20K). In the specifications of a good “Conversion” is 80 MPH top speed, 100 miles range, Mid-size or Compact or Mini-van less than five year old “Glider” (Vehicle converted). And yes this is well within the capabilities of the Conversion shops in most states today.
The discussion here is interesting: At low power/speed (reasonable vehicles), a simple hybrid-electric vehicle without a plug has substantially lower environmental impact than a plug-in electric vehicle. The Prius and it’s direct competitors are without exception the most environmentally sound vehicles on the road.
However, as ICE vehicles increase in power, their environmental footprint increases rapidly. Meanwhile, the footprint of an EV increases more gradually with power increase. So while a comparison of a Prius vs a Leaf shows the Prius being SUBSTANTIALLY more environmentally sound than the Leaf; a comparison of a Tesla model S vs a BMW M5 would show an environmental advantage for the Tesla S as long as both vehicles were driven >100,000 miles…
But there is a toll on society for driving using extreme speeds and acceleration – far higher accident incident rates, greater road repair needs, larger lane/road requirements, smoother road requirements, etc…
So is it worth it for us to champion the technology which only sees an environmental benefit at far higher speeds and far greater acceleration?
I think the benefit here lies solely in the trains. Faster speed and acceleration may serve to increase acceptance and use of public transportation, where the benefits from having multiple people per vehicle could quickly overcome the increased damage that results from higher speed and acceleration.
Driving below the prevailing speed increases the risk of accidents because it increases the frequency of lane changing and passing. So, EVs that cannot maintain the prevailing speed on roads on which they are driven will increase the likelihood of an accident, especially when traffic is heavy. In urban areas, one may be able to select roads on which the prevailing speed is low enough, but if one wishes to drive to a suburb, that may be impossible depending on the speed capabilities of the EV.
When merging onto freeways, good acceleration ability reduces the risk of an accident because it makes it possible to accelerate quickly to the prevailing speed and merge smoothly. However, many drivers, even when driving a car with adequate power, fail to accelerate quickly enough thereby disturbing the traffic flow when they merge.
There may be a limit to how much acceleration capability makes sense. There are a few late model cars which are able to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in less than five seconds which would seem to be much quicker than necessary. Also, that extreme acceleration capability generally significantly reduces fuel efficiency. In the hands of a marginally skilled driver who lacks adequate self-discipline, that could also increase accident risk.
Frank,
Note that I was referring to a Prius and its direct competitors as a “reasonable vehicle”…
With the hoopla surrounding the “sudden acceleration” case, we got to be subjected to far too much info about the accident instance in the Prius (the sudden acceleration turned out to be driver error), and there are FAR less vehicle-to-vehicle collisions involving Prii on an incident per 100,000 miles driven basis.
There is a ~35% higher incident of vehicle-to-pedestrian accidents involving older Prius models, but that’s because of the silent electric motor… New Prii have bothersome noisemakers, and I believe the EV’s are also required to have bothersome noisemakers…
Glenn,
I’m sure that the majority of unintended acceleration cases are the result of driver error, but I think that some are the result of malfunctions.
Drivers sometimes hit the accelerator instead of the brake, usually in parking situations. That error is much less likely to occur with a manual transmission than with an automatic transmission. When creeping at parking speeds with a manual transmission, one would have one’s left foot on the clutch and that would serve as a reference point to make hitting the accelerator by mistake far less likely. Moreover, with the clutch partly disengaged, hitting the accelerator would produce less dramatic results. I think that we can be almost certain that practically all accidents resulting from pedal misapplication at parking speeds occur with cars having an automatic transmission.
Unfortunately, accident statistics to not record whether cars have manual or automatic transmissions. That omission is irresponsible since if there is a significant difference in accident rates between automatic and manual transmission, we should know about it and it should be reflected in the cost of insurance. The AAA actually recommends that parents provide a car with an automatic transmission to new drivers based on the undocumented assumption that automatic transmissions are safer. People who are not handicapped should learn how to operate a manual transmission so that they will have a choice of which to buy. Also, the majority of rental cars have manual transmissions.
There was a case in San Diego where a policeman, driving an unfamiliar car, crashed and killed himself and his passengers. A passenger had used his cell ‘phone to call for help when the car went faster and faster on a highway and could not be stopped. Considering that the driver was a policeman, that there were passengers who no doubt gave advice on what to do, that the emergency service that was called also gave advice, and that there was more than ample time for the driver to take action and respond to advice, it would seem that the fatal accident was the result of a malfunction.
Some modern cars, including the Priapus, are drive by wire, i.e., the accelerator simply gives instructions to the computer. The P R N D L lever, except for P, is simply an electric switch. If the computer fails, it may not even be looking at the lever in which case shifting to N would have no effect. When there is no key to turn off the ignition and the STOP button must be held in for about two seconds to stop the engine, the risks are obvious. A car like that should have a clearly labeled emergency stop switch like those on all motorcycles.
In theory, the brakes can easily over-ride the engine if applied HARD! But if the brakes are not applied hard and the engine is delivering full power, the brakes can fail from over-heating and be unable to stop the car.