What is an electric car and how does it work?
An electric vehicle or EV is any vehicle powered by an electric motor rather than an internal combustion engine or IC engine energized by the burning of fuel or gas. An electric vehicle motor is powered by an electric current collector from an off-vehicle service provider or from an on-board source such as a battery, solar power, or an electric generator that converts the fuel in electricity.
An electric vehicle includes electric cars, buses, two-wheelers, electric water vassals, and electric aircraft.
Generally, EV’s are referred to as cars, buses of all sizes, and trucks in today’s world. The electric vehicles are divided into three categories that are battery charged electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles (that are partially powered by an electric motor), and fuel cell vehicles (hydrogen gas is used to power electric motor).
The invention of electric vehicles has been done decades ago, but it came into consideration in the 21st century to meet global issues like pollution, global warming, and exhaustion of natural and non-renewable resources caused by the vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine. Zero- emission electric vehicles are the only possible and practical substitutes for vehicles leaving carbon footprints and other environmental-related problems.
The major source of air pollution in India and other countries around the globe is from emissions from transportation. Many countries including India have taken the initiative of replacing current transportation with the concept of electric vehicles. It is estimated that the global share of electric vehicles will increase from 2% in 2016 to 22% in 2030.
An electric vehicle is classified into three major categories out of which fuel cell vehicles that use hydrogen gas for electricity generation needs more development and other one is hybrid, but it does not operate fully on electricity it also uses fuel to power a vehicle, so the last one we left with is battery EVs which has on-board rechargeable electricity storage system (RESS).
The onboard rechargeable electricity storage system is charged by an external source known as Electric Vehicle Chargers whenever the vehicle is stationary and gets disconnected when the vehicle is fully charged, or the vehicle is in motion.
The onboard storage system includes three methods to store power. Chemical storage in on-board batteries typically in the lithium-ion battery, kinetic energy in the flywheel, and the third one method is static energy in onboard high-capacity capacitors also called super capacitors (SP).
Out of all the three methods, the electrochemical conversions are easy to reserve, allowing electric energy to be stored in chemical form. This can be one of the reasons why most of the electric vehicle chemical batteries mostly lithium-ion batteries.
Manufacturer of Battery charging vehicles uses lithium-ion batteries because lithium-ion batteries have higher energy density (the amount of energy stored in a given system per unit volume), power density, and durability. But it has problems too firs of all it is expensive and can get damaged or breakdown at a certain temperature. To operate safely and efficiently batteries should be used in safe temperature and voltage range. Now the lithium-ion battery price is coming down, and if used safely, it is the most suitable batteries to power your vehicle’s electric motor.
Vehicle electric motor, which brings your vehicle in motion, which is generally a DC motor, an electric motor can deliver maximum torque over a wide range of RPM that can exceed the performance of the same powered internal combustion engine.
How Does an Electric Car Works
An all-electric vehicle in India or an EV has rechargeable electrical energy storage on-board that works as a source of energy. For the electric motor, which moves or drives the vehicle. It does not have any conventional internal combustion (IC) engine that burns fuel or gas for the propulsion of the vehicle. An EV does not burn any fuel for propulsion thus it does not have any tailpipe exhaust.
An electric vehicle in India can be charged using a charging unit called EV chargers plugged into an external source of electric power. You can charge your EV using a slandered 120v outlet at home. You can also charge your EV at a dedicated charging station that will charge a vehicle faster than a home charger. While you are outdoors by paying some extra then that cost you charging at home. EV vehicles in India also use a regenerative braking system, which generates electricity by slowing down the vehicle when applied brake. The energy generated from the regenerative braking system is either stored in batteries or directly used by vehicles.
The range of an electric vehicle depends on the vehicle itself. Because every model or company has different batteries that have a different range. And, it also depends on the performance of the vehicle. An all-electric vehicle can run non-stop for a normal journey that is around 180km. Unless the weather conditions or not extreme because of extreme temperature.
Working of an electric vehicle or EV
All-electric vehicle has four basic components that make an electric vehicle work or move.
1. Energy storage units (high capacity batteries)
2. Inverter
3. AC/DC motor
4. Controller
Energy storage units are the high capacity batteries or super capacitors that store the energy onboard. Currently, the most common method used by electric vehicle manufacturers is storing energy in chemical form; The battery work as a source of power to the electric motor in the vehicle. All the batteries in the vehicle are managed by BMS (Battery Management System).
The inverter is a device that converts the DC (direct current) to AC (alternating current) for the AC motor. The battery supply the power in direct current thus an inverter required to convert it to alternating current.
Electric Motor, the electric vehicle manufacturers uses both alternating currents (AC) motor and direct current (DC). The motor in electric vehicles converts electrical energy to mechanical energy. The mechanical energy generated by an electric motor is transferred to the wheels by a single-speed transmission.
The controller acts as a gateway to the motor and controls the flow of the electrical energy delivered by the batteries. AC Motor controls the speed of the electric motor and it also controls the energy required by other components. It is the brain of the electric vehicle.
Other components that contribute to the working of an electric vehicle
1. Charging port
2. On-board charger
3. Thermal system
Charging port, it used to charge the on-board chemical batteries by connecting to an external energy source.
On-board chargers, some of the vehicles have the alternating current motor, which can be used for the regeneration of electrical energy. The energy generated by an AC motor is first converted into direct current. By the onboard charger and stored in batteries or used by vehicles directly. This technology has increased the range of EVs. The thermal system, the electric motor produces heat, which leads to more use of energy and reduces the range of the vehicle. The cooling system helps in maintaining operating temperature for an electric motor, and other components. These components work together to make an electric car work or run.
Types of Electric Vehicles
There are three types of electric vehicles categorized by the amount or degree that electricity is used as a source of power.
1. HEVs Hybrid Electric Vehicles
2. PHEVs Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
3. BEVs/AEVs Battery Electric Vehicles/All-Electric Vehicles
HEVs Hybrid Electric Vehicles
The hybrid electric vehicle has both a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) and an electric-powered propulsion system. HEVs use both petrol and electricity as power, HEVs startup using electric motor then the petrol engine takes over as the speed rises.
In this the batteries are charged by its regenerative braking system, this system is a mechanism that recovers the energy by slowing down a moving vehicle, which converts kinetic energy into electrical energy, which is stored in batteries or supercapacitors, or the energy is directly used by the motor in some vehicles.
Both the Internal combustion engine and electric motor are controlled by computer software which ensures the best fuel economy and leads to fewer tailpipe emissions as compared to traditional vehicles with an internal combustion engine.
PHEVs Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
We can say Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle is a combination of both the Hybrid electric vehicle and battery electric vehicle, it combines an internal combustion engine with a battery-powered motor like a hybrid vehicle whose batteries can be charged by plugging into an external source of electric power.
PHEVs can run longer only on electricity when charged full than HEVEs which extend the range of the vehicle which ultimately leads to fuel economy and less emission by a vehicle.
BEVs/AEVs Battery Electric Vehicles/All-Electric Vehicles
BEVs battery electric vehicles are also called all-electric vehicles or only EVs or pure electric vehicle. The electric vehicle has onboard batteries whose power is used to operate the electric motor with no other secondary fuel engine (internal combustion engine).
The range of an all-electric vehicle depends on the vehicle but the average range of vehicle available in the market is 200 km and few luxury and performance vehicle has a range of 450 km.
BEVs completely powered by batteries onboard, which are charged from external sources with the help of special chargers, and the charging speed is dependent on the type of charger. The chargers are classified by the speed of charging.
Generally, there are three types of EV chargers available are, level 1, level 2, level 3, or DC fast charger. 1) Level one takes almost 8 to 10 hours to fully charge an EV, and it uses standard 120volts outlet to charge. 2) Level 2 chargers require special EV charging stations that can provide 240volts, which can charge an EV within 4 to 6 hours. 3) Level 3 or DC fast charger also requires a special charging station, and this fast charger can charge an EV up to 80% to 90% in about 4 hours.
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