Leaked documents expose a quiet but powerful shift in EV design — and it could shake up the market
“We could have made a 600-mile Model S 12 months ago,” he said in a post on X at the time. Musk added that the extra battery mass would have made overall vehicle performance worse. The post was shared in a Sustainability by Numbers article.
But schematics and patent details from South Korea have been making headlines as a solution, according to Top Speed and Green Car Reports.
The innovation is unique because it integrates the battery assembly into the vehicle structure. This is different from traditional builds that feature two separate but connected pieces. Space-consuming material overlaps reduce room for battery cells, which limits range, all per Top Speed.
“The photos included in the patent application show a floor pan, side rails that appear to extend all the way to the rear wheel openings, and an upright firewall at the front. Down low and in the middle is where the battery cells get installed, the commonsense place to keep a vehicle’s center of gravity as low as possible, though it’d be hilarious to see an EV with the battery pack mounted in the roof,” Top Speed’s Craig Cole wrote.
Green Car added that the batteries would be placed underneath the floor in voids between crossmembers.
EVs already weigh on average 30% more than gas-burning rides, according to Kevin Heaslip, director of the University of Tennessee Center for Transportation Research, per The Globe and Mail.
The report cited a 2024 Hyundai Kona as one example. A gas version weighs 3,053 pounds, while the battery-powered one tips the scale at around 3,758 pounds, a 23% increase.
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