Benefits Of Small EVs Over Larger EVs

  • No expensive batteries (uses separate, easily obtainable, LiFePO4 or AGM Batteries).
  • Lower running costs
  • No special chargers needed
  • Charge at home from normal electricity supply.
  • Range up to 220km (depending on model and price)
  • No expensive maintenance costs.
Ora Cat battery electric cars

Many Benefits

The most expensive part of any EV is the battery. There’s no getting away from the fact. Big lithium batteries are expensive. Is there an alternative?

Yes there is an alternative and it’s been there all the time.

Multi-billion dollar corporations spend millions of dollars to advertise their products. That is why we hear about those companies constantly, and not the smaller manufacturers who can’t spend like that. But the cost of the advertising is added to the cost of the cars they sell, greatly increasing the price tag.

Gone are the days when the small cars were golf-carts with a pretty fibreglass body on top. Manufacturers spend huge amounts on design and safety, but they also tackle the problem of batteries just as the large volume manufacturers do.

ev design and how they do it Fengon mini ev

No longer are small electric cars cheap golf-cart construction. Modern small EVs share high-tech with their larger counterparts.

The enormous and very expensive under-floor lithium batteries are only needed in certain conditions, not as a rule. If you use a car for shopping and general running around within a 20 or 30 km area, then why do you need a battery capable of 300 km? That extra capability from the battery is costing you literally thousands of dollars, for nothing. Using data from 2022, the average car journey distance is 8.1 miles. Trips where there are passengers in the car tend to be longer (8.9 miles) than trips where the driver is traveling alone, (7.3 miles).

This simply means that the hundreds of miles extra which the battery can supply, is being paid for to the tune of THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS UNNECESSARILY. What could you do with a few thousand dollars in your pocket? You don’t need a monster for shopping or taking the kids to school.

No surprise, smaller cars do not need big motors. Smaller motors need less power. This means that the battery size and cost can be reduced as power consumption has been reduced.
 
In the end a small car with an appropriate motor and matched batteries has already halved the cost of the electric car. The battery situation has been eased and more normal types of battery costing far less, can be employed. A typical battery system for these cars is six 12volt batteries of LiFePO4 type giving 72 volts with a 20 to 30 kW motor. This will give all the power and speed usable in an urban situation, which is expected and legal. Batteries at this level mostly don’t use the expensive lithium so battery cost is down and the environmental impact is much smaller.
One thing which the average motorist forgets is the wasted fuel and power of a fossil fuel internal combustion engine.  A petrol or diesel engine is on average around 25% efficient. Only 25% of the money which you put into the fuel tank reaches the wheels. On the other hand, an electric motor is around 80 to 90%. At least THREE TIMES more efficient. To put it another way is that it is costing at least one third of the cost per mile of a petrol or diesel car with the same power motor.
 
These “normal” type of batteries don’t need special battery chargers. The normal routine is to use the car in the social hours and plug into the household power socket overnight. The car is ready for use next day. So far as charging costs are concerned, a typical battery charger may run overnight and consume around 75p (UK) or 50c (USA) electricity. This is not the same cost each night even, as lower usage on any day results in less charging time to replace the power used, so reducing the charging cost.
 
Electric cars have far fewer parts than ICE powered cars, so maintenance costs are much less. No oil changes, no expensive catalytic converters etc. These small cars do have the power disc brakes and power steering of their bigger brothers. however. This also translates downwards. A smaller electric car has much lower maintenance cost attached than its larger counterpart as there is less stress on mechanical components.
 
In general, there’s a lot to be said for the cheaper, smaller electric cars. Don’t let ego get in the way of fun, excellent transport at negligible cost.
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