By Kassem Bdeir | Staff Writer
Electric vehicles (EVs) have been rapidly expanding their popularity in recent years. Despite Covid-19 lockdowns, research on EV technology has witnessed an unprecedented surge, and therefore almost every automotive manufacturer aims to become fully electric in the future. World leaders are supportive, with President Joe Biden setting an ambitious goal for half of new car sales to be electric, fuel cell or hybrid electric vehicles by 2030.
As discussed in my previous article “Rise of the Era of the Electric Vehicles”, the boom has reached all parts of the world and the trend is ever growing. Even Bugatti, famous for building the largest engines and setting world records, is aiming for heavy electrification. Its latest model, the Chiron Super Sport 300+, houses a W16 engine that broke the world record of speed at 490.484 km/h (304.773 mph) in August 2019, so its EV successor has a lot to live up to [1]. The case is similar for all other vehicle types, such as sedans, hatchbacks, SUVs, coupes, convertibles, pickup trucks, vans… This fierce world war has mainly targeted pickup trucks, Chinese brands, and hypercars.
Pickup Wars
The pickup truck has always been popular in America, and the Ford F-150 has been the best-selling vehicle there for 40 years. Consequently, in pursuit of keeping that title, Ford has developed an electric version called the F-150 Lightening. Thanks to its impressive range of about 400 km, reasonable starting price of $50,000, and familiar styling to the regular F-150, it is guaranteed to remain every American’s favorite. Additionally, a smart feature of the F-150 Lightning is its front trunk, called “frunk”, which offers additional cargo space. Due to the lack of an engine, this innovative storage compartment enhances the truck’s practicality and offers 400 liters of cargo space in addition to the pickup’s bed [2]. This feature is especially helpful to protect items against theft and environmental conditions, which are often a worry with pickup trucks.
The F-150’s direct rival, the Chevrolet Silverado, has ventured into the electric realm as well. Its latest truck was unveiled, and its price starts from $40,000 for the base model rising up to $105,000 for the luxury trim. The new Silverado EV stands out with its cutting-edge autonomous driving technology [3]. It utilizes a combination of advanced sensors and AI systems, ensuring improved driving and safety. In addition, General Motors has been working on the revival of the Hummer brand name as a special off-road performance luxury EV. With its huge size and presence, shocking acceleration time, and cutting edge innovations such as crab walk, the Hummer EV seems the ultimate pickup truck on the market.
On the other hand, new companies have emerged and prepared their brand new tanks to fight the old established masters, such as Rivian. Its peculiarly named but rather impressive R1T offers an innovation called “Gear Tunnel”. It is a luggage compartment spanning through the width of the vehicle that can even be customized to accommodate an outdoor portable kitchen [4]. Combined with the huge front trunk and truck bed, the R1T boasts pretty confident practicality. Regarding performance, the R1T demonstrates Rivian’s advanced ‘Tank Turn’ technology, which enables each wheel to rotate independently, allowing the truck to turn almost in its place without driving forward or backward.
China’s Energizers
Several Chinese companies have emerged into the arena, such as Lucid and Nio. Lucid’s “Air” model focuses on the luxury sedan segment by offering a smooth transition from the traditional combustion engine automobile. Instead of Tesla’s famous teardrop shape, Lucid’s exterior preserves the traditional three-box structure design. Its interior expresses true luxury as well, where shiny wood, metals, and leather cover every surface. Moreover, it delivers a respectable range of about 840 km. Besides, Nio has introduced several innovations like battery swapping technology and advanced autonomous driving technology. To illustrate, the company’s first-ever battery swapping technology enables a robot to immediately swap empty batteries for fully charged ones, completely eliminating charging times [5].
High-Voltage Hypercars
The most prominent example is the Rimac Nevera, of course, the Croatian hypercar that cannot find a place to hang its next world record. For starters, it broke the record for the fastest accelerating car in the world in 2023. With just under 2000 horsepower, this masterpiece is an electric power plant on wheels that can achieve 0 to 100 km/h in 1.74 seconds. It has also become the fastest reversing car in the world at 275.74 km/h, as verified by Guinness World Records. Furthermore, the hypercar set a new record for a 0-400-0 km/h benchmark on the same day that it destroyed 22 more accelerations and braking records [6].
If you thought the Rimac was as far as technology could get, think again. The Aspark Owl, manufactured by the Japanese engineering firm Aspark, has already started obliterating the Nevera’s numbers. It has already stolen the record for the fastest accelerating road-legal car in the world in the same year and is aiming to claim the engineering insanity throne.
In conclusion, electric vehicles are now a defined sector of the reshaped automotive industry. With their exceptional technological advancements paired with stricter environmental regulations, electric vehicles promise to be the mode of transport of the 21st century.
References
[1] B. Communications, “Final World Record-Breaking Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+ delivered,” Jul. 21, 2022. https://newsroom.bugatti.com/press-releases/final-world-record-breaking-bugatti-chiron-super-sport-300-delivered
[2] “2023 Ford F-150® Lightning® Lariat Electric Truck | Model Details & Specs,” Ford Motor Company. https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/models/f150-lariat/
[3] “2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV review, Pricing, and specs,” Car And Driver, Oct. 30, 2023. https://www.caranddriver.com/chevrolet/silverado-ev
[4] “2024 Rivian R1T Review, Pricing, and Specs,” Car And Driver, Jan. 04, 2024. https://www.caranddriver.com/rivian/r1t
[5] A. Taylor-Jones, “BMW i5 vs Lucid Air vs Nio ET7 group test review,” CAR Magazine, Dec. 27, 2023. https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/comparison/2023/bmw-i5-vs-lucid-air-vs-nio-et7/
[6] A. Charlton, “Rimac Nevera sets new 171 MPH speed Record—In reverse,” Forbes, Nov. 09, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alistaircharlton/2023/11/09/rimac-nevera-sets-new-171-mph-speed-record–in-reverse/?sh=4409769d31d0
[7] T. Gear, “Rimac Nevera breaks Guinness World Record for… going in REVERSE at 171mph,” Top Gear, Nov. 07, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.topgear.com/car-news/supercars/rimac-nevera-breaks-guinness-world-record-going-reverse-171mph