Citroën CEO Vincent Cobée has very strong ideas about the future of the electric car.
Key words for the future of Citroën are sustainability, optimism and accessibility. Whether through concept cars such as the Oli or through the voice of its CEO Vincent Cobée, the company makes no secret of it: the future of the automobile is electric, and SUVs will not survive this wave- there. According to him, the decline of SUVs is inevitable, and that for reasons of aerodynamics and energy efficiency.
To read – Citroën unveils the Oli, an ecological and affordable electric car that announces the future of the brand
He told Auto Express reporters “that for an electric car that’s not aerodynamic enough, the losses in terms of autonomy are massive. 50 kilometers separate good from bad aerodynamics, and between a sedan and an SUV, we speak very quickly of 60 to 80 kilometers”. This attention to the silhouette of the vehicle is indeed visible in the new Citroën C4 X, a vehicle with a hybrid style, between SUV, sedan and FastBack.
For the CEO of Citroën, electric cars will kill SUVs
More than improving the design of the car, the current solution to offer more autonomy to drivers is to improve the capacity of the batteries and/or to multiply them. A solution which, according to Mr. Cobée, is not viable, because that, in fine, weighs down the cars. “In the 1970s, a car weighed 700 kg. Today, she weighs 1300 kg on average. Tomorrow, they will be two tons. SO we use three times more resources to provide the same service, just to be green “.
Remember that French drivers will, in 2023, have to pay a tax on the mass in running order (the weight penalty), the amount of which is €10 per kilo from 1,800 kg. In these times of economic crisis, there is no doubt that the weight of an electric car will become a determining factor in the choice of a potential new vehicle. For its future electric vehicles, Citroën will clearly focus on durability, aerodynamics and lightness, as illustrated by the Oli concept car unveiled in September 2022, which should only weigh about a ton.
Source: AutoExpress