Dodgy PPE?

[dan_b]

A little joke at the expense of Porsche and Audi, as the e-Macan was supposed to be ready for launch by early 2023 but now delayed by over a year due to software issues, and they've called their new EV platform "PPE".

https://www.teslarati.com/porsche-macan ... -platform/

But what is "Bank Charging" and why is that beneficial?
Interesting they're sticking with prismatic cells when the auto industry seems to be moving more and more to cylindrical?
And is this a "multi-fuel" platform or bespoke EV? Can't remember if the Macan will also be released as an ICE or ICE-hybrid as well?

[Oldgreybeard]

The decision to use cylindrical cells comes down to cost, I'm sure. For example, Tesla chose to use 18650 cells initially not because they were the best, but because they were cheap and Panasonic could supply them in volume. The battery manufacturing sector at that time was churning out millions of high energy density 18650 cells, as back then they were used in just about every laptop made. Tesla developed a clever way of weaving cooling tubes between the cells, and connecting thousands of cells up safely with welded fuse wire, using existing cell spot welding technology. They've since evolved to use larger cylindrical cells, except for the MIC cars that use prismatic cells, I believe.

In terms of energy density it's hard to beat prismatic cells, as long as their size happens to be a neat multiple of the pack size. If the pack needs to be shaped to fit the available volume then it makes more sense to use lots of smaller cells, as they can often be fitted into odd-shaped spaces more easily. Cylindrical cells also have the advantage that they are inherently self-compressing, so the battery pack doesn't needs to have any other way to compress the cells to compensate for the expansion and contraction that causes the electrode spacing to change with temperature. That can save a bit of weight, but equally if prismatic cells are designed to fit tightly into the battery pack case then that can provide the needed compression.

[Stinsy]

A little joke at the expense of Porsche and Audi, as the e-Macan was supposed to be ready for launch by early 2023 but now delayed by over a year due to software issues, and they've called their new EV platform "PPE".

https://www.teslarati.com/porsche-macan ... -platform/

But what is "Bank Charging" and why is that beneficial?
Interesting they're sticking with prismatic cells when the auto industry seems to be moving more and more to cylindrical?
And is this a "multi-fuel" platform or bespoke EV? Can't remember if the Macan will also be released as an ICE or ICE-hybrid as well?

Pretty terrible article.

Audi was reportedly not at all impressed with the MEB platform which is VW’s current ground-up BEV platform (used in the VW iD range, as well as Skoda and Cupra BEVs, and the Audi Q4) so they’ve built their own platform (PPE) in conjunction with Porsche. PPE is BEV-only whereas the Taycan and e-tron GT are built on the ICEV MSB platform.

“Bank Charging” allows the car to present as 400V so the car can use rapid chargers that cannot cope with 800V architecture (eg Tesla superchargers). All 800V BEVs do this.

Interesting comment on cylindrical cells. Tesla chose them not because they’re better but because they were available in commodity quantities when they first designed the roadster. The industry is very far from “moving more and more to cylindrical” the opposite in fact!