[ChiragM]

After building eco-friendly electric cars for environmentalists, carmakers are now concentrating on fast and powerful electric cars for enthusiasts.



For years, electric vehicles were built to meet emission norms and fuel efficiency standards. But now, automakers are targeting EVs towards enthusiasts as they look to increase market share of EVs. Some of today's EVs have extremely high power output and the instantaneous torque increases acceleration. No one is talking about the efficiency of a Porsche Taycan. Instead, everyone talks about the 751 BHP that the Turbo S variant produces.

Tesla is largely credited in making EVs more enthusiast-friendly. The 0-100 km/h times of Teslas with Ludicrous Mode equalled or bettered the times set by expensive supercars.

According to a media report, in the US in 2018, electric vehicles accounted for 1.2% of the 17.3 million vehicles sold in the country. 80% of these were Teslas. The percentage of electric vehicles to be sold is expected to go up to 9% by 2026.

Link to Team-BHP News

Source

[Shreyans_Jain]

What’s wrong with EVs being performance oriented? The instant torque and pick up is their USP and it is only fair that auto majors have recognised this. People need to understand that a 50hp motor and a 250hp motor will both consume the same current under the same load while still having zero emissions. This characteristic is diametrically opposite to an IC engine, where bigger engines guzzle more fuel and have higher emissions, especially in low speed urban usage.

[A M]

Enthusiasts may be lesser in number but they do influence the popular opinion. So nothing wrong in targetting enthusiasts in my opinion. Since EVs are re-inventing cars of the future, it is important to make them desirable otherwise the technology will be a fail. If enthusiasts have good things to talk about EVs, it would be easy to form the general public opinion to accept the same technologies in everyday cars.

[libranof1987]

Last I checked, we were doing this whole EV business to be environment-conscious. Didn't realize there were sub-categories: a hatch means you are a Pro vs. a Newbie if you get a SUV EV.

Wonder if there will be regulations on EVs as well, the way ICEs had on their emissions and so on: which essentially governed engines size.

[srini1785]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

The 0-100 km/h times of Teslas with Ludicrous Mode equalled or bettered the times set by expensive supercars.

Not a bad marketing strategy IMO. You first showcase the capability of EV's to match/better those set by conventional cars to make the world take notice. Once you have an audience, then introduce viable market products. Tesla is well advised in marketing strategies. Scaling down from higher to smaller cars is easier than going the other way.

[SmartCat]

That's because car enthusiasts buy cars, not environmentalists. The latter usually prefer to travel around the world in emission free sail boats.

[aim120]

Tesla still has the best watt/km figure, hyundai Kona held that place for a brief period until tesla released updates. If you had two ICE powered cars with similar differences in performance, no one would compare their km/liter figure because it would be unfair. Yet in electric cars you can, the Tesla still has better energy efficiency in terms of watt used per km.

When you see a 4 door sedan destroying super cars / muscle cars in a drag race, yet with a flick of the settings still drive back home in one of the most energy efficient way, you will know that electric is different.

[wheelguy]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

That's because car enthusiasts buy cars, not environmentalists. The latter usually prefer to travel around the world in emission free sail boats.

Read it as snail-boats, wondered what they were, clicked the link and went through it and understood that it was sail-boats. Came back to see if it was a typo but no I read it wrong at the first glance!

[srishiva]

Even in fossil fuel vehicles, technology percolates from high end cars down. Maybe the car makers are spending more and doing something for the first time which they do on expensive cars with more margins first.

Maybe after some time, there should be more tax on ludicrous or insane mode electrics compared to normal ones.

[guru_max]

It's just an indication that EVs are no longer niche appealing to a few but mainstream products which are not bought just because they are EVs.

[landcruiser123]

Anything new that has to sell has to be made appealing. Only after that can you sell mid-end and lower end products successfully. Example: The iPhone- the premium phone made today's smartphone market.

All these years have gone with mediocre EVs. Tesla changed things with the sexy and futuristic Model S.

[Thermodynamics]

Quite logical- EVs sell at a premium despite subsidies. Premium demands performance to sustain.

I look forward for the day, when EVs will take part in F1 (or have they already?) and for the day, when driverless artificial intelligence compete human drivers just like the computer that won Gary Kasparov. A bit more extrapolation: for the day, when different AI algorithms show their mettle on real tracks.

[raystriker]

Car enthusiasts are not homogeneous.

I am a car enthusiast. But I don't care about how a car performs on the street, as long as it is comfortable, efficient and reliable.

The type of enthusiast I am, I care about how fast a car can go around a racetrack and the occasional back-road. I care about acceleration, top speed, aerodynamics, handling, lightness, l̶o̶o̶k̶s̶, feedback/feel, consistency etc. The perfect car in my head, is a car that is able to strike a perfect balance between all of the above.
Unfortunately, none of the EV cars on the market as of now come close to bettering existing ICE cars in the qualities I mentioned above just yet (except for the Lotus Evija, maybe).
With the qualities they have right now, EVs make for wonderful commuter cars. But don't kid me. A Miata will walk away from a 2019 Tesla on the Nurbrurgring and lap it while it is broken down at Flugplatz.

The conversation about performance of Teslas mainly revolves around 0-100kmph times, and I am here to say that it doesn't matter. Accelerating as fast as Teslas can do, is irresponsible on public roads and borderline uncomfortable. It probably also takes a toll on your battery health.

From a performance standpoint, I care about how a car accelerates from 100-200 or higher. So in that regard, EVs fail for me in acceleration too. You can get a base corvette from 20 years ago, stick a Chinese turbo on the V8 and better a Tesla in the acceleration department on tracks where you always carry some amount of speed.

I would much rather have an EV that does 500 miles on a single charge, recharge 80% of range in half an hour, and have a 0-100kmph of 5 seconds while also carrying a family of 5 + luggage.

Remember: We want EVs to reduce emissions. We want them to not affect the environment when we want to go from A to B.
ICE cars of the past and present have more than fulfilled our driving enjoyment needs.

[GTO]

Like most other cars, EVs have to sell on appeal. They cannot be boring or compromises. We forget that, long before Tesla arrived on the scene, a few car manufacturers (Nissan, Ford etc.) used to actually be selling electric cars. But a lot of these models were 'compliance' cars, which were on sale just to meet government norms. They were mediocre, they were boring, they were appliances with major compromises.

All of that changed in 2013 with one car = The Tesla Model S! Overnight, it made electric cars sexy, cool, fast & packed with appeal. I agree with the marketing strategy. EVs need something other than just 'environment-friendliness' to sell.

Take my own case. I've driven electric cars like the Leaf & E2O before. But I got sold on them only after experiencing the brutal acceleration & performance of the Tesla. Spent 10 days with it in Boston and absolutely loved it!

[vb-saan]

Forget an EV, even driving a hybrid was considered as boring. Someone driving a Prius or a Leaf was akin to a person who has lost all the enthusiasm in life. The new age is different though; a Model 3 is considered cool/awesome and the Taycan is brutal!