Electric vehicles

Electric vehicles

Electric vehicles: When Nicola tesla invented AC current, no one had the idea that this could be the basis of electric vehicles one day. Despite so much heated discussion between fuel car and electric car users, as which is better, fuel cars have been winning for years. But now, it’s high time, people understand the importance of electric cars and come up with cheaper ways to produce electric cars.

The main reason behind less popularity and demand for electric cars is not enough knowledge about the car and its pricing.

Reeshu

To tell you, the electric cars, at least most of them are nearly the same as fuel cars. The difference is that these add up to your good deed of not polluting the environment by the emissions produced by fuel cars. Read the full article to know all about electric vehicles.

Technology

We live in a world with changing technologies every another day, and one of the best technology that we could have is the electric vehicle. Technically no machine’s good to our planet earth, as every machine makes some or the other form of pollution. But, this invention is, you may say better than others. EV is used for electric vehicles, which can be anything, be it cars, trucks, or even bikes. EVs are not only restricted to these but are also used in spacecraft and underwater vessels.

Basically, an EV is anything that is driven by electricity and not any hydrocarbon-based substance. This is the advantage of electric vehicles since they do not use hydrocarbons, they do not tend to produce carbon emissions that are released by fuel vehicles. EV uses one or multiple electric motors. EV can be powered in many ways like self-contained batteries, electric generators or solar panels, or else off- vehicles sources.

History

The electric vehicles came into existence first in around the 19th century. Electricity was the most preferred way of propulsion in that era as it provided the ease of operation to people that the fuel or gasoline vehicle technology cannot deliver at that time. In the 21st century, the EVs became more significant, and their demand emerged as it focused on renewable energy. So a group of engineers understanding the problem of pollution stared working on Electric vehicles and sharing technologies. But this whatnot for the first time, EVs were prepared.

Electric vehicles were produced in mass for the first time in America in the 1900s. ‘ Studebaker automobile company’ was the one to launch electric vehicles first, but these weren’t successful at that time due to the limitations of the batteries. However, it still managed to gain popularity in its initial days due to its fast speed. Till date, electric vehicles are known for their fast speed gain characteristics i.e., and it gains speed as fast as racing cars that too in few seconds.

In 2006, there was a movie too released named ‘who killed the electric cars?’ that was under Sony Pictures Classics. This movie also emphasized on adoption of electric vehicles.

Types of electric vehicles

° BEVs – Also known as battery electric vehicles. These are the vehicles that are operational or powered entirely by electricity supplied through batteries and do not require any fuel. These EVs have a range of 100-200 miles per charge, making them suitable for the vast middle-class majority.

° PEVs- Also known as plug-in vehicles are those vehicles that are powered by one or more than one motors and can be recharged by simply plugging into the standard household socket. The energy is again stored in battery packs.

° PHEVs – these are known as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and combine both petrol or diesel engine with a battery and an inverter. Thus provides a more extended range of driving performance. These vehicles can plug into sockets to recharge them. The PHEVs use electricity for shorter distances. When the battery is over, the vehicle continues the supply of power through the engine. Japan is the leading manufacturer of hybrid vehicles and has sold around 500 million of them. Norway is in the second position, with the next highest share of 6.9% in hybrid vehicles. An extended version of this type of electric vehicle is E-REVs that also propels using both generator and batteries. This can provide up to 125 miles with a battery and 200 miles with a petrol generator. 

° Railborne EVs – a fixed overhead line powers these types of EVs. Electric trams are example of these types and mostly used in Europe. These have higher power output than the vehicles driven by fuel. Maglev trains are also considered to be electric vehicles nearly.

° space rover vehicles – electric vehicles also include space crafts, for e.g., the last three APOLLO missions, their spacecraft has silver oxide battery that can walk for 37.9 kilometers on the moon’s surface.

Components of EV

• Battery – In an all-electric vehicle, the battery provides the electricity to power the accessories of the car.
• DC-DC converter – It is a device that is used to convert high DC voltage to low DC voltage in order to provide power to smaller parts like steering, stereo, etc.
• Traction motor – these are the motors that drive the wheels of EV by using the power from the installed battery pack.
• Onboard charger – It receives an input of AC that is converted into DC by this device to charge the battery packs. It also monitors the characteristics of battery like its voltage, current, temperature, etc.
• Power electronics controller – this component Monitors the amount of energy to be delivered from the battery to the accessories of the car.
• Along with that, it also manages the speed of the wheels.
• Battery pack – it stores electricity for the whole electric vehicle. Thermal cooling system – this component monitors the temperature in all the components like wheels, motors, etc. and maintains them in a proper range.
• Transmission system– this part delivers the mechanical power from electric traction motors to drive the wheels.
• Charge port – It is an external port is used by the user to connect the car to a socket,to charge the battery pack.

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Working

The main component in the electric vehicle is the onboard charger here. First, AC input is given to the car, which is converted into DC for further use. Then, the battery pack i.e., made up of hundreds of lithium-ion batteries connected in series and parallel accordingly. This battery stores energy. Now, this energy is being transmitted to multiple devices, including the transmission system and the DC-DC converter. The transmission system sends the power to wheels, and the  DC-DC converter steps down the voltage and delivers to all parts of the vehicle. The battery pack has to be there in every electric vehicle, and even it has an engine also. As soon as you switch on the car, the battery starts delivering the power to its respected destination. All the working occurs just as explained above. 

Types of charging

There are basically three levels of charging  available for electric vehicles:

level 1- this is also known as home charging and requires a 120V plug along with a standard outlet. This type of charging can take the longest time.

Level 2- this is a type of charging that requires a 240 V plug, and the setup needs to be installed by an electrician. This can also be used for commercial purposes. This method is faster than the level 1 charging of electric vehicles.

Level 3 – This level charging is also known as Dc fast charging and is mostly seen as public charging stations. These have high voltage running and can provide 100 miles charge in about 20 mins. Level 3 charging is not easily accessible without payment apps or specific card setup.

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Companies

• Tesla motors
• Ford
• Nissan
• Chevrolet
• BMW
• Volkswagen etc.

Conclusion

In this era, with pollution levels increasing day by day, we need to understand the importance of such machinery and promote more of them. Even if you have the love for mechanical cars or love the sound of knocking in fuel vehicles, an electric vehicle is better than them. You need to agree on that. Not only in terms of pollution but also in speed. The car you posses may not be able to pick up 66 km in just 3 seconds, but all-electric cars do so. Which is a competition to Nissan GTR. So change your thinking and upgrade to electric cars.