They will be the ones that promote technological development by investing in new technologies, both their own and those of suppliers. They are the ones that need more differentiation from their electric cars to justify their extra cost. At this time there are already large technical differences.
The technology in electric cars is much more advanced today than it was a few years ago. The data reveal that in little more than a decade the energy density It has been achieved multiply by eight. And as they increase their market penetration, investment by car manufacturers will continue to increase and therefore their technological development it is expected to continue accelerating.
But little by little things are becoming clear. Some manufacturers invest in new platforms specific for electrical, in own enginesin promoting technology related to batteries and in other components. And some other manufacturers take a more passive position and simply nourish of the third party components.
Due to the fact that the electric cars they have a remarkably lower amount of parts than a mechanical vehicle, a priori it seemed that their arrival would go dissolving differences that have always existed between a generalist manufacturer, a premium manufacturer and a car brand dedicated to sports or supercars.
But now that the normative European and American begins to press manufacturers, and who have almost unanimously announced their imminent transition to the electric car, this issue is also becoming increasingly clear. Little by little, the traditional car brands are becoming, albeit partially, also technology companies. Or looking for the best ‘partners’ as suppliers, or by investing in third parties that offer them specific technologies.
Already at this time, when the electric car is still ‘very green’and not in the ecological sense but rather because of its development, there are noticeable differences between ‘low cost’ electrics, electrics from general brands, electrics from premium brands and electrics from manufacturers focused on sportsmanship. Little do a Dacia Spring have to do with a Nissan Leaf, or with a Skoda Enyaq iV, or with the Porsche Taycan.
The current technical differences between electric cars
Right now, two electric cars differ for key technical aspects such as the chemistry of your battery cells, regardless of their capacity, their weight and their size; also for the benefits of his alternator or by the power of your system regenerative braking. At the engine level, not only power and torque matter, as before the electric car, but also the electric motor type.
There are other important differences such as architecture of your electrical systemfor its voltagethe system heating or, of course, and perhaps it is one of the most important aspects, by the system of refrigeration of the battery. All these are differences that replace those that existed between one thermal and another, for the simple fact of being thermal or, now, for the simple fact of being electric.
And in addition to all the other differences that existed before, regardless of the type of vehicle mechanics –such as acoustic insulation, rolling quality, chassis behavior, interior qualities, etc.-, electric cars have empowered interest and development aerodynamicseven carrying the systems of active aerodynamics to access segments.
The sports car brands will be the ones that drive the technological development of the electric car
For many years I have been working in the industry of consumer technologyand history is repeating itself step by step in the automobile industry. At that time they were Samsung, Apple or Huawei –among others, of course those who made one greater investment in technological development and, in many cases, served as third party hardware vendors. Samsung developed a reference screen and used it in its latest high-end mobile, but years later it ended up in lower-end mobiles from competing manufacturers.
In the automobile sector we have already seen how the Volkswagen Group invests in the development of a specific platform for electric cars, such as the SEMand later it ends yielding to Ford for use in their own electric cars. and we saw porsche introduce for the first time 800V architecture in the Porsche Taycan, although Hyundai and KIA were quick to respond with the same on their E-GMP platform.
One of the key points is that the sports car brands are those that more need to differentiate and get a distinguished product; a reference product at a technological level that justifies the extra cost. They are the ones with the most pressure on their shoulders to push forward in the development of technology. And that explains that porscheFor example, you are carrying out millionaire investmentsamong other things, in the development of silicon batteries or of course the solid state batteries.
It was with Porsche that, for the first time, we heard about the ‘permanently excited synchronous motors’. He introduced this concept for the first time in the field of electric cars, and made it stand out, because it is important for sports car brands to have a top technology to that of electric cars ‘standard’. And they should be, a priori, those that, through internal investment and through investment in third-party companies, promote the development of new technologies applied to electric cars. But, like the 800 V architecture, they will be technologies that are gradually being adopted by lower-segment vehicles.