Weight Management

For electric vehicles, vehicle weight is of essential relevance. A significant share of the energy consumption, the rolling resistance and the acceleration resistance, linearly depends on the vehicle weight. Thus, vehicle weight directly influences the capacity of the energy storage. As the energy storage system (battery) is one of the most expensive parts of an electric vehicle, mass is one of the key factors for the dissemination of electric mobility.

A low vehicle weight allows using a small and cheap battery. In addition, every saved kilogram means a lighter design of the electric motor, the chassis and other components, i.e. additional weight savings by secondary mass effects. As a result, this leads to further weight and cost reductions in the battery, as it can be reduced in size again.

The Visio.M project has a strict weight management to be able to capture all benefits of this reverse weight spiral. The Institute of Automotive Technology (Lehrstuhl für Fahrzeugtechnik) checks every component for potential weight savings. The project goal in terms of weight is ambitious, and the vehicle should be just as good as comparable small vehicles with regard to driving experience. This is one of the big challenges of Visio.M.