Maserati: ‘Slower charging provides important advantage’

In a conversation with the British Autocar, Ana Paola Reginatto, head of the electric branch of Maserati, says that the brand is playing with the idea of ​​building electric cars without fast charging options. She emphasizes that there are no concrete plans for this, but she does point out that leaving out the technology has important advantages. A DC charger on board an electric car quickly weighs 40 kilos and entails costs, while slower AC charging is fast enough in many cases.

Reginatto points out that cars are stationary 60 to 70 percent of the time, so in most cases there is enough time to fully charge a car with a slower charger – even if it is a fast car. Especially in sports cars, the weight savings resulting from the omission of a DC charger are welcome. “Normally we would spend millions to save 40 kilos in the development of a car,” she says.

‘Excessive consumption’

Reginatto thinks it’s important to emphasize that there are no concrete plans, because the idea goes against what we like to do when considering a car: taking into account what we could possibly need as much as possible. She points out that cars now often have to be spacious enough for those few times a year when we go on holiday, and that the driving range has to match that. She calls this ‘excessive consumption’, indicating that there is a slow trend shift in this respect.

A car that offers a solution for the majority of situations instead of almost all situations could be the result. Reginatto, however, is wary and indicates that it has more to do with what they would release in 2032 than in 2023. Just assume that the electric MC20, for example, simply has a DC charger on board. By the time the successors to the first electric Maseratis are developed, Maserati may re-examine customer requirements in terms of charging.