The route stretches from Italy to Hong Kong, covering approximately 9,300 miles with a target completion time of 43 days. Leading the journey is the Denza Z9 GT, a shooting-brake-style EV from BYD’s premium brand. What makes the campaign particularly interesting is that the Z9 GT pairs a substantial driving range with the ability to charge from 10% to 97% in just nine minutes.
1000 horsepower? Can we start getting cars with reasonable horsepower?
EVs don’t lose efficiency with high horsepower figures… in fact, they gain stronger regen braking, which reduces brake pad wear (and means less brake pad dust polluting the environment) as well as extending range in city/residential driving and on downhill sections of road.
Excess horsepower cost more money and is less safe
The reason why EV motors are so high power is that unlike internal combustion engines, an electric motor being capable of high power doesn’t make it less efficient during lower power use. So unlike a 1000 hp gasoline engine, an EV with 1000 hp can cruise around a city at low speeds using very little energy.
Another advantage of high power motors is that they are also high power generators for recapturing the kinetic energy in regenerative braking that charges the batteries.
Why? Power isn’t bad
It is. Higher horsepower is predictive of higher driving speeds, higher collision rates, and more damage/risk per collision.
Even if it weren’t, it requires a heavier motor and stronger parts be used in the car, increasing costs and weight, which in turn decrease range.
ome of the most powerful EVs is also the most efficient EVs, the Lucid Air. Aero has way more impact than the relatively tiny amount of additional weight added by including slightly beefier motors and cooling and such.
Yes.The Pure (base) is $72,000 delivered, plagued with issues, and subsidized so heavily the company lost $1 billion in the last quarter alone. This is reflected in some of the highest replacement parts costs in the industry rivaling ultra luxury manufacturers like Bentley. It is why residual retention is so poor even by EV standards.
This car is the poster child for my point. They put a powerful motor in, added battery to mitigate the lost range, then had to engineer around the weight at a price. You just don’t see the full cost which easily exceeds $150,000 per vehicle shipped.