Depreciation? No: Energy Density Is The Biggest Problem For EVs

EVs are the future of personal mobility. Anyway, they still have to overcome issues like depreciation and high rates for fast charging, as we mentioned in other articles. The price of the battery packs is one of the reasons for high depreciation, but it is not the only one, according to a video from Jason Fenske. The presenter of Engineering Explained focuses on the technical aspect of the question and points his finger towards energy density.

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This video about that came after Fenske reported why combustion engines still make sense. People probably got mad at him, and he felt compelled to make a new video and explain why energy density is a major concern. You can check that video below. It has interesting points.

Fenske has already mentioned how amazing it is that an electric vehicle can run 2,000 miles with the equivalent in energy of a 17-gallons tank of gas. The issue is that the battery pack that provided the 560 kWh he spent on that road trip weighs a lot.

In that sense, adding more range to an EV is a lot more complicated than fitting a larger fuel tank to a regular vehicle or installing a more fuel-efficient engine under the hood – hence manufacturers still investing on new ICE technologies.

Fenske uses the low energy density not only to explain the disadvantages EV vehicles still face when compared to ICE cars. He also presents that as the starting point for an educational analysis of the challenges that lie ahead of the Tesla Semi.

According to the video presenter’s calculations, the Semi would need 1,000 kWh of energy to have a 500-mile range. That is equivalent to ten Model S battery packs. The lighter a cargo vehicle is, the more cargo it can carry.

We are very curious to see how Tesla will overcome these challenges with the Semi. Will the Tesla Battery Day reveal how the company plans to do that? Which new technologies will be available? More than that, will Tesla manage to offer more energy-dense battery packs? Watch the video and share your thoughts with us below.