An auto CEO came very close to saying the right thing about heavy EV batteries

SpaceEVDriver

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The ER doesn't weigh 500 pounds more than the SR. Especially with the SR chemistry being moved to LFP.

The following curb weights are easily found.

The 2022 Premium SR RWD is 4318 pounds; the ER is 4647 (329 pounds difference, or a 7% weight reduction).

Similarly, the AWD SR is 4498 while the AWD ER is 4838 (340 pounds difference, still only a 7% reduction).

The 2023 Premium RWD SR is 4609 pounds, vs 4646 pounds for the ER (LFP vs NCM), which is only a 37 pound difference, or less than 1% reduction in weight.

The 2023 Premium AWD SR is 4789 pounds, while the ER is 4838 pounds (49 pounds), again only about 1% reduction in weight.

Since the energy cost to accelerate or keep a mass moving at speed is linear, these (7% for a 2022 or 2021, or 1% for a 2023) represent the increase cost in energy required to move the vehicles due to the weight differences. The weight savings is not enough to account for the difference in (EPA-reported) range.

The 2022 AWD has a 23% range reduction moving from the ER to the SR.
The RWD has a 19% reduction.

The 2023 AWD has a 22% reduction.
The RWD has a 19% reduction.

You *may* see a slight change in tire and suspension lifetime, but the range hit is not (solely or even mostly) due to the extra weight.
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BilLongua

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I agree that we are one more big jump in battery/charging tech away from mass EV adoption. But I’m not so sure on the timeline to when that jump occurs.
It could be 3 years - it could be 20. From the tech advancements that I have been following, it seems a lot closer than farther, but we won't really know until it is here.
 
 




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