As global automakers race to charge electric cars as fast as possible, Italian luxury car brand Maserati is heading in the opposite direction. Maserati plans to reduce the charging speed of its electric cars. The strategy is said to help automakers keep their EVs lightweight. Also, it will help reduce the cost of its EVs, the automaker claims. Interestingly, the announcement comes months before the official launch of its first electric car, the GranTurismo Folgore, which uses an advanced 800-volt platform that supports up to 270kW of fast charging.
Autocar UK reports that the car brand is happy to sell an electric car that doesn’t support fast charging. The report quoted Ana Paola Reginatto, Maserati’s global head of electric vehicles, as saying that fast-charging capabilities add unnecessary weight to electric vehicles, making their handling and performance tedious. Since most cars spend more time stationary than in motion, that time can be used for slow charging, she reportedly said.
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Reginatto also emphasized that selling electric cars without fast charging not only makes them lightweight, which has many benefits, but is also cheaper and simpler to manufacture. “Today, we buy cars based on how much range we might need on long drives and how much space we might need each year, for example, when we pack for a holiday. But this attitude to overconsumption—or at least buying the most – the shift is happening. Think about the weight of the car charger: 40kg! We spend millions of dollars trying to engineer 40kg out of the car, so if we can change the attitude towards slower charging, There will be huge potential benefits,” she added.
It’s clear from Reginatto’s comments that Maserati’s aim is to focus on the performance and overall driving experience its EVs will offer, rather than some attention-grabbing features like fast charging, which don’t look like it in real life. It sounds so practical. She said performance was a basic expectation of Maserati buyers and combining it with luxury was crucial. Maserati officials further added that this is exactly the same as what the automaker did with the Grecale SUV.
First published date: Jan 5, 2023, 11:36am CST
https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto/electric-vehicles/maserati-is-planning-to-make-evs-more-affordable-here-is-how-41672895923186.html