Originally Posted by Hamwich
Originally Posted by Peter J

As speed increases drag increases with the square of speed


<pedant>
Actually it increases with the cube. And of course the critical thing is CdA, not Cd, so a van with a large frontal area is even worse.

But on the other hand you wouldn't expect to go nearly as fast in a van as you would in a car. A Tesla has a CdA of around .56 compared to a VW Transporter of around 1.3, so as you say, twice the drag, but the impact would be greatly lessened by a reduction in speed. A Tesla at 70mph would need 0.5 x .56 x 30666 = 8586W, a VW at 50 mph would need 0.5 x .1.3 x 11089 = 7207W to overcome air resistance.

So yes, to get equivalent performance would be punitive, but if you accept a lower cruising speed then I can't see it would make that much of a difference, especially in a van with a comparatively low payload.

</pedant>


Not pedantic at all!
Mind you a white van with a Tesla M3 power but limited to 56 mph would be a scary thing with Mr Average White Van Driver at the wheel.. 0 to 60 in 5 seconds???
Another point I'd overlooked: delivery vans spend a lot of time with the engine running, but not driving. An EV would consume no energy and by virtue of the stop start nature of the drive, would do well on regeneration.
We are probably 3 years off the mass introduction of EV White Delivery vans...

Peter,
66, 2016 Porsche Boxster S
No longer driving Tarka, the 2014 Plus 8...