PSA Group to ease range anxiety with new electric battery tech

PSA Group, incorporating Peugeot, Citroen and DS, will bring in its next-generation lithium ion batteries and chargers to offer faster charging times and reduced range anxiety for battery electric vehicle (BEV) owners.

Future plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) will have 12kWh batteries (13kWh for SUVs), which are 12 times the capacity of existing PHEV packs and claimed to be 20-30% more powerful than competitors’, at 80kW and 90kW respectively.

These batteries’ operating range is 210-350V (240-400V for the SUV). A 3.3kW onboard charger tops up PHEV batteries in 4.5 hours, or 2.5 hours if a 6.6kW fast charger is installed.

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The BEVs' 7kW onboard charger can deliver enough charge in 90 minutes to drive 100km, while a full charge will take eight hours. A wall-mounted fast charger can deliver an 80% charge in 30 minutes, or 12km of additional range per minute of charging.

Clean electricity needed for clean future

PSA Group chairman Carlos Tavares has sent out a clear message that clean energy sources are vital for the electrification of cars. “Having clean powertrain technologies and zero-emissions mobility devices is not enough. If the energy generation process is not clean then it is not going to deliver an appropriate result,” said Tavares.

The PSA Group’s commercial rebirth under its ‘Push to Pass’ strategy will be driven by a focus on innovation and sustainable technology.

“This is an engineers' company. It has always been that way and will continue to be that way,” Tavares added.

An increase in efficiency of research and development activity is expected to save €1.5 billion (Rs 11,350 crore) in five years, or €300m (Rs 2,270 crore) per year. PSA plans to motivate engineers by giving them back the savings to invest in new programmes.

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