C40 Recharge

[jamei305]

Originally Posted by bornmiddleaged

The fact that a car is propelled by an electric engine should not make any difference to any of the characteristics you list above.

Nope, electric power trains are much heavier, the batteries weigh a lot more than an ICE engine plus fuel tank. This is why the C40 is over two tonnes compared to 1.6 tonnes for the XC40 ICE versions.

This extra weight is best distributed over the floor to get the best handling, doing this in an estate car would compromise the seating and load area.

[Thekilt]

Originally Posted by jamei305

Nope, electric power trains are much heavier, the batteries weigh a lot more than an ICE engine plus fuel tank. This is why the C40 is over two tonnes compared to 1.6 tonnes for the XC40 ICE versions.

This extra weight is best distributed over the floor to get the best handling, doing this in an estate car would compromise the seating and load area.

Sorry but nope. Yes they are heavier, but the size does not make a difference to the height of the vehicle. As stated in my earlier responses, the batteries can be accomodated in any format. Not only SUVs.

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by Thekilt

My comment above is also applciable to yours. the whole "SUV is easier to package batteries" is plain BS. pleanty of other companies do fine with saloons, coupe's etc. Nissan Leaf, Porsche Taycan, Tesla Model S, 3, and roadster, MG Estate. The skatebaord design keeps the CoG low, and built around it the height makes no difference.

I'll probably largely have to concede that point.

I had thought that about the various saloons out there, namely the Teslas, but they tend to be larger saloons, allowing more space, to spread things out, which is why I mentioned as cars get smaller. As an aside, The Roadster doesn't have the batteries under the car but behind the seats.

However, without looking too much in to it, the MG 5EV looks broadly like a golf sized estate, so it can obviously be done. There's even an electric Corsa, so there's that, whether this has a marginal impact on the height of these cars or space available, I don't know, but it doesn't appear significant.

EDIT:
Vauxhall Corsa-e

"Compared with the conventionally powered Corsa, the Corsa-e has a slightly longer wheelbase (the distance between a car’s front and rear wheels), with its rear axle pushed farther back to help accommodate the sizeable 50kWh battery that’s packaged in an H-shaped layout under the front and rear seats. The suspension and steering has also been tuned differently to cope with the substantial amount of weight added by the battery pack...

Fortunately, the Corsa-e doesn’t compromise on interior or boot space compared with its petrol-powered stablemate... the only concessions are that it can’t carry a spare wheel."