Max Reid

KEYNOTE PANEL DISCUSSION

Right now, the target for OEMs is to reduce the price of the EV, while improving efficiency, having higher autonomy, and delivering ultra-fast charging capabilities. Charging targets are much higher than ever before; OEMs are looking for a 10% charge to 80% charge in 10-12 minutes. Ultimately, buyer decisions are down to charging time and range. What the end user is seeing is ‘How many kilometres can I drive and how long does it take to recharge the vehicle?’.

How quickly a vehicle charges and how far it goes on one charge is down to the battery’s power density and weight. You can put a larger battery in a vehicle, but that will jeopardise weight and cost. You can find a higher energy density in different cell chemistries, but you then need to enhance your thermal management system and safety system to make the device safe and working under all conditions. This will also add cost.

While batteries have not yet reached their theoretical limits with respect to energy densities, and making sure batteries remain light and more energy-dense is a high priority, OEMs are facing a real conundrum. This is a tricky trade-off triangle.

• This panel of experts will address this big issue and share what their companies are doing to cope with end-user demand, and how they are finding the optimal balance between cost, power density, weight, charging time and range.