Automotive Engineering - February 2023 - 4

EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL
Bill Visnic
Editorial Director
Bill.Visnic@sae.org
Engineering 'electron guzzlers'
" We don't want a gas guzzler, " my father
asserted as we walked across the
local Chrysler-Plymouth dealer's lot. It
was early 1968; I was a car-nut school
kid and he was a Mopar man on the
hunt for a new station wagon. The average
U.S. retail price of regular gasoline
then was about $.30 per gallon. V8s
reigned supreme. My ever-frugal dad
wanted a big car for our family and so
bought a 1968 Plymouth Fury III wagon
- an 18-ft-long (5.5-m) land yacht.
As an arch penny-pincher, however,
Dad eschewed the four V8s offered in
the Fury in favor of the base inline
6-cylinder. Its 145 hp (108 kW) and the
car's 4000-lb (1815-kg)
curb weight conspired for
an anemic power-to-weight
ratio. No matter. There
would be no gas guzzlers
in our family's garage. The
225-six Fury got 18 mpg on
the highway, while a 440-V8 powered
model might eke out 13 mpg. Dad also
deleted air conditioning: " Another
waste of gas! " he lectured.
Those memories returned when I saw
Most EVs are
over-batteried,
overweight and
overpriced.
'gas guzzler' used in a recent news article
about EVs. In this case, the writer
wasn't referring to big V8s. Rather, the
objects of her scolding were all IC engines,
including the 1.8-L gasoline fourbanger
in her VW Golf.
Apparently, 'gas guzzler' now encompasses
any vehicle that burns hydrocarbon
fuels, no matter how efficient.
Anything with an exhaust pipe! So, allow
me to introduce a term to describe
many of the current-generation EVs.
Let's call them electron guzzlers.
It's time to acknowledge that many
incumbent EVs are as " electron-inefficient "
as the thundering muscle cars
were fuel-inefficient back in the day. EV
engineers know how to configure electric-propulsion
systems to deliver optimum
miles per kilowatt-hour, or MPGe.
Unfortunately, however, OEM product
planners and marketers rule that max
buzz is essential for making mass electrification
attractive. They mistakenly
4 February 2023
Lindsay Brooke
Editor-in-Chief
Lindsay.Brooke@sae.org
chose 0-to-60 mph (0-to-97 km/h)
acceleration as a key selling point. " We
had to dispel the notion that electric
cars perform like golf carts, " one marketing
boss told me.
But range and other energy-gobbling
features also are important. As a result,
most current EVs are over-batteried,
overweight and overpriced for the majority
of customer use cases.
Electron guzzlers are by design lithium-intensive
hogs. GMC's Hummer EV,
a notorious example, packs a 400-volt,
200-kWh, 617-amp-hour Ultium battery
that weighs just shy of 3000 lb. (1360
kg), pushing the vehicle's curb weight
to more than 9000 lb.
(4082 kg). The Hummer's
specs were driven in part
by a silly 0-to-60 bogey:
three seconds. Sure, it's
quicker than a golf cart.
But wouldn't a 6- or 7-second
truck be just as marketable?
Further up the GVWR scale, Tesla's
Class-8 semitractor is the ultimate guzzler.
Its battery is estimated to weigh
10,000-lb. (4536-kg). With the transportation
sector already concerned about
future battery-materials supply and cost,
the prospect of millions of pounds of
lithium-battery demand serving comparatively
few heavy trucks is lopsided.
And heavier vehicles mean more tire
wear, already an issue in the airborneparticulates
battle.
The escalating cost of both lithium
batteries and EVs is finally bringing
some rationality to product development.
New approaches to electrical architectures
and component design are
helping to reduce battery size. Hydrogen
fuel-cell developments are a real alternative
for larger vehicles. And the 0-60
obsession may be fading.
The rising EV market doesn't need
electron guzzlers. Cost/price reduction
and practicality now are the keys to
capturing potential EV buyers. My late
dad would be one of them - if he could
option-delete the A/C.
Lindsay Brooke, Editor-in-Chief
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AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
Automotive Engineering - February 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive Engineering - February 2023
