Electrical car (EV) batteries are getting heavier. The 2022 Kia EV6's battery weighs over 1,000 kilos. The 2022 GMC Hummer EV pickup, a 9,000-pound behemoth, has a battery pack weighing in at 2,923 kilos.
The heaviest 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS EV sedan has a curb weight of 5,888, about 1,000 kilos heavier than the S-Class, its inner combustion engine (ICE) cousin.
This month, Mercedes unveiled its new EV battery manufacturing facility in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, simply down the highway from its longstanding SUV plant. It additionally revealed the EQS SUV.
Whereas remaining specs have but to be launched, it should definitely be heavier than its comparable gas-powered SUV because of the dimension of the battery.
Do these weights have any affect on experience high quality? In line with Mercedes, regardless of the upper weights, the EQS lineup has as easy a experience as any of its different merchandise.
In a roundtable interview with journalists on the plant in Alabama, Mercedes chairman Ola Källenius instructed Newsweek that weight is a basic drawback that the corporate all the time takes into consideration, EV or not.
"Combating weight has been the engineer's quest for so long as I can keep in mind," he mentioned. "So that you all the time work on the burden equation in any automotive."
He credited the corporate's AIRMATIC adaptive air suspension know-how for the sleek experience on the EQS sedan, which holds most of its weight within the middle of the car.
With that suspension, the automotive mechanically makes changes to car top primarily based on drive mode, pace and highway circumstances.
"100 years of [experience] teaches you how you can make a automotive that rides like a Mercedes," he argued. "The battery has not been a detriment for us there."
Markus Shäfer, Mercedes' chief know-how officer in control of improvement and procurement, mentioned in an interview that for the foreseeable future, massive batteries are mandatory.
"An enormous battery is an element that generates belief in electrical automobiles," he mentioned. "We have to acquire belief in this type of propulsion mode for a while."
EV batteries will proceed to development heavier till vary nervousness begins to die down, the vary competitors between producers ends and different applied sciences and chemistries develop.
He says that increase charging infrastructure will even make folks extra snug with much less vary between recharges.
"Having a greater charging community sooner or later, lowering charging instances additional and having extra stations obtainable will cut back the scale of batteries," he added.
Mercedes can also be making investments within the improvement of solid-state batteries, which do not require liquid cooling. They'll additionally supply sooner charging instances, higher vitality density and elevated vary.
Earlier this 12 months, the corporate introduced a know-how cooperation settlement with Taiwanese battery developer ProLogium to supply solid-state battery cells within the close to future.
Shäfer initiatives that there might be a viable solid-state battery for Mercedes automobiles inside 4 years.
Källenius provides that at the same time as EVs turn out to be tougher to differentiate from each other when it comes to efficiency and dealing with, customers will nonetheless know the distinction with Mercedes.
"Making a Mercedes is like making a mosaic," he mentioned. "You've gotten all of those little items. So that you step again and also you see this stunning image. Even when you understand nothing about automotive engineering you simply really feel it. It is proper."
For electrification and past, Källenius argues that mastering the electrical drivetrain and linked automotive applied sciences will set the corporate other than all the remainder.
"It isn't simply luxurious, it is not simply tech. It's the symbiosis and the mix of these," he defined.
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