I have just purchased a Honda Clarity Plug in Hybrid. Weighs 600 lbs more than my gas sedan of the same size. Reviews of the Clarity, and it seems all electric cars, the extra mass is mentioned with a negative slant. At the moment, I am thinking it is not a complete negative. My engineering is limited so if anyone knows allot about automotive suspensions, please help educate me and those others that may read this thread. First off, I am going to assume the added mass will lower the center of gravity allot as with the skateboard full electric types, or somewhat in the Clarity. That is a good thing for handling that all seem to agree on. Teslas's handle good, and ride good with just the driver. For a car that is the same size and handles and rides good with just the driver, but weighs 1000 lbs less, add 4 more American supersized adults, and the degradation of the ride and handling will be much more so than the Tesla with the same load. I would think so anyway, that 1200 lb load is a smaller percentage of the Tesla's empty weight. So my question is this: can you make a vehicle super light, but handle a big load safely and keep good handling and comfort? No doubt a rigid enough structure is required, plus Air suspension and some other technologies ? But what about tire size? I understand about rolling losses, regeneration can regain energy on slowing down, but wider tires will add to the rolling resistance, and that is a one way drain. And denser vehicles will be affected by side winds less. So maybe there are advantages to a higher density vehicle after all, especially if that extra mass is down low, helps with handling and side winds.
For enthusiasts, more weight means it doesn't like to change directions as well as a lighter vehicle. More weight also takes more energy to accelerate, but really only comes into play when comparing electric vehicles with each other.
Regenerative braking mitigates Most of the weight inertial effects. Instead of heating brake pads, the energy goes into the battery and they last a very long time. Rolling resistance increases a little with weight but using the highest pressure, like truck tires, solves that problem. It also improves steering response and precision. Bob Wilson
