Jon Guzik: Myths of high performance electric vehicles
Jon Guzik Discusses High Performance EVs and Breaks Down EV Misconceptions
Is there still room in the marketplace for those high-performance superfast EVs?
When you talk about those ultra-fast, high performance EVs, it’s a bit of a misnomer. All EVs are fast. If you think about the way electric cars work, it’s infinite torque at zero rpm. There’s no traditional torque band like there is on a gas powered car.
With EVs, it’s either on or off, zeros or ones, it’s boolean. EVs usually have a one-speed transmission, so that limits how fast you can really go. But here's the fun thing about EV, I can be in an i3 or even a Smart EV, I’ll when I press on the pedal, I’ll be going super-fast for that car. Will I be going as fast as the new Porsche Taycan Turbo S in a Smart EV, or as fast as a fully loaded Tesla Model S? No, but I’m really getting up to speed relative to that car. All EVs are zippy, some more than others.
So, you can ask, is there room in the market for more high-performance and fast EVs? All EVs are fast. With these cars, the question is what will the market bear in terms of these fastest EV and what’s enough?
Look at what Tesla’s doing, or the Taycan Turbo S, or Rimac or Lotus or any of the excotic auto manufacturers, there will always be a market for the fast, ultra luxe EVs of the world. You will always have people who want to buy super-fast cars that run on electricity and spend a bundle for one - and there will always be a ton of companies doing that in the marketplace. There will always be something that will cost you a boatload of cash that will be faster than anything else in the world.
So, should you buy one?
Sure, if you’ve got the money, why not. But for me, I think people should be thinking about the EV that fits their lifestyle. For example, I would like a Porsche Taycan, but for me the perfect Porsche Taycan is the base model with a long range battery pack because I like the build quality and the looks of the Porsche, but I don’t want to go 200 miles per hour. I have nowhere to go that fast, I live in Los Angeles where I'm boxed in by traffic.
For me, it’s the idea: you have something that goes as fast as you want, has the pickup that you want, that has the speed and passing power that you want — but fits your lifestyle. I am willing to suffer top speed and 0-60 time, and 60-90 time for another 50 miles of range and a faster charging time. I’m pragmatic but love good design.
So, can you have good charging and fast driving?
Well, they say you can. But it comes back to physics. The more battery output you have by putting your foot down on the pedal to increase your speed, the more your battery will drain. If you drive a Lamborghini Huracan that is super-fast, that’s going to suck gas because you have the throttle wide open. It's the same idea with EVs.
In some cases, you can have fast driving and good charging. Porsche has a crazy onboard optional system, like 60 miles in 4 minutes using 800V, 350-kW fast chargers. Here’s the rub, even if you have that type of technology on your car, it’s going to be hard to find the right charging station. Again, I think it’s something you’d need to do the research on and figure out what works for you.
Switching gears, you live in LA where there is a romanticism being behind the wheel. Let’s say you are driving down PCH and you have to pick your perfect EV for the drive, what would you choose and why?
So I have my perfect EV dream car, and, of course, that car doesn’t exist. But let’s talk about electro mods. There are a lot of companies that are transforming vintage Porsches or vintage Jaguars into electric powered cars. My personal favorite, and the car I would like to own more than any car in the world, is a Ferrari 400i.
The problem is — and it’s not that they’re that expensive to buy and I’ve come close to buying one more than a few times — it’s the cost to operate that will kill you. If you think about tuning, it costs just as much to tune and repair a 12 cylinder Ferrari that costs $35,000 as it does to tune and repair a 12 cylinder Ferrari that costs $1.3 million. It’s a small fortune for either.
So, my dream car is an electro-modded 400i. Take out the 12 cylinder engine, take out the manual transmission, or even the GM 3-speed automatic you can get on that car and replace it with an electric drivetrain and some range and to me that’s a perfect car.
It won’t break down as much and you’ll have something silent and beautiful that no one else owns. Would I like a convertible EV? They don’t make them right now. Convertibles are fine. But to me, having something that’s like a 2+2 grand tourer is way better. You know, cruising down PCH, then I can pull over, look at the ocean, pop open the trunk and have a glass of champagne and a late lunch while watching the sunset. That sounds pretty good to me in a Ferrari electro mod or even a three year old Fiat 500e right about now.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
By: Tom Hindle
Borrow is an electric vehicle subscription company with one goal: to make driving an EV as simple and accessible as possible. Borrow is the only electric vehicle subscription service of its kind with a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decarbonizing the everyday drive.