Atlis Motors aims to beat the established EV industry at its own game, speedy abundant charging. Can they make this impressive play work?
EV Industry Momentum
It’s been easy to hate on electric vehicles. Historically they’ve been slow, low-range, and have the personality of a sewing machine. That’s all changed, and in no small part due to Tesla’s vision of what electric propulsion can deliver.
The global automotive industry has finally realized how far behind Tesla they’ve become. In particular, Tesla’s supercharger network gives them an almost unfair advantage at this point. You can realistically road-trip in a Tesla across the entire U.S. (The record is 50:16). Meanwhile, if you try to take the same trip in a Chevy Bolt you’ll need an extra day to charge (Record stands at 78:59).
The auto industry is a global supertanker and doesn’t turn easily. This leaves room for startup companies to come in and innovate faster than the big players can. Atlis Motors is betting big that they can own a share of the new automotive landscape. Atlis motor vehicles is probably best known for their XT Pickup Truck concept. With a starting price of $45,000 and four-wheel independent motors, it could be a serious contender against the likes of Rivian, Lordstown, Hummer, and others.
(For an overview of the current electric pickup truck landscape check out; The Off-Road Electric Vehicle is Ready to Sling Mud & Save The Planet.)
Atlis Motors Charging
Atlis isn’t aiming for just space in your garage. Though vehicles are the shiniest part of the EV pie, battery and charging tech are the un-sexy essentials. Atlis is working on both, and actually makes charging sound exciting.
It’s aiming to leap-frog Tesla with a 1.5 Megawatt capable charger. That’s roughly 6X what Tesla is capable of with their supercharger V3. Atlis claims they will be able to add energy to your vehicle at a rate of 3,000 miles of range per hour of charging. If that were actually a measure of velocity it would equal about 3.9X the speed of sound!
Quick Charge Required
Warp speed charging is going to be essential to EV expansion and adoption. Nobody wants to wait for hours at a Walmart parking lot charging station for their battery to fill.
Atlis might be on the right path. However, the reality is that you can’t buy a vehicle that can accept a 1.5 MW charge rate. The Tesla Model 3 is the fastest charging car you can buy, at a charge rate of 560 miles/hour. Even then, existing batteries can’t sustain that charge rate as the battery fills. From 0-50% you see your most rapid charge, the last 20% as the battery “tops-off” is just a trickle. Even the recently released Lucid Air doesn’t claim more than 1,200 mph peak charging speeds.
Atlis Motors Quick Charge Battery
So who needs Mach 3.9? Atlis does – and they’re building the battery that can take it for the upcoming XT launch. The Atlis charger is built with the future in mind, and I would bet that they’re right to assume customers will demand Mach-speed charging.
The real question is, do you take the bet that Atlis can deliver on these shiny renderings and white-board sketchs?
Buy Into The Speedy Charging Hype
If you’d like to sip on the Atlis Motors kool-aid yourself, they are fundraising. With a minimum buy-in of $247.20 for 30 shares, you can be an investor in Atlis’s latest funding round.
Loft goals have us excited for the electrified vehicle future, and Atlis Motors is trying to bring us that superspeed future very soon.
