Do ev's typically weigh more than ICE cars?

Question

More batteries vs smaller motor and fewer parts.

Answer 1

The flag ship of the ev industry would be the Tesla.

It has a motor which weighs about 57kg(125lb) and a battery that weights in at 410 kg 900 lb.

http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2007/02/20...

IT winds up on the road a little heavier than the Lotus Elise. (the I.C.E version.)(230kg 500lb)

http://www.caranddriver.com/carnews/1154...

This is not really a fair comparison because it goes a lot better. If you squeaked up the Elise to match performance the weight would be similar. If you were happy with a 100 mile range then you could cut the battery weight roughly in half.(better performance, similar weigh, less range)

This is of course the top end of the field, running Lithium based batteries. Nickel metal hydrate, Nickel cadmium, and lead acid batteries weigh more to store the same energy.(lightest to heaviest).

There is a range of vehicles around called micro cars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcar.

These are about the same size as most common  E.Vs. They general weight a lot less than the electric version.

While most battery electric cars are lighter than average I.C.E. cars they are usually much heavier than an I.C.E. car of a similar size.

AN electric car that gets its power in a similar way to an electric train would be much lighter.

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p.s. Another example similar sized cars

Zap Xebra(battery electric) 1800 lb (lead acid bateries)

http://www.zapworld.com/electric-vehicle...

Smart (I.C.E)1650

http://www.smartcarofamerica.com/models/...

In this case the I.C.E powered car has much better performance.(and range)

Summary

Yes. Generally a comparable battery E.V. will be heavier but how much heavier will depend mostly on the type of battery

Answer 2

Typically they weigh less because most EVs are currently small cars because of battery technology limitations.  The ZAP Xebra, for example, only weighs 1,800 lbs

http://www.zapworld.com/electric-vehicle...

While a Prius weighs nearly 3,000 lbs

http://autos.yahoo.com/toyota_prius_4_do...

And a Honda Civic weighs about 2,650 lbs

http://autos.yahoo.com/honda_civic_coupe...

But a Xebra is a small electric vehicle.  A Tesla Roadster is actually pretty comparable, weighing about 2,500 lbs

http://autos.yahoo.com/tesla_roadster_co...

So at the moment EVs are generally lighter because they're also smaller, but the next generation of EVs will be roughly the same weight as ICE cars.

Answer 3

Oh yeah, for a given size of vehicle an EV will be heavier, quite a lot heavier.

Answer 4

Weight primarily has to do with power and range due to weight of batteries. The motor is not very heavy. An electric car might be the same size but lighter and just as fast, but could only go a short distance.

Answer 5

I believe that Modern EV's typically weigh less than standard ICE cars, mostly because they have to. Without a giant 8 cylinder engine to move it, EV's stay pretty light weight, making use of new designs and materials.