Into The Future – Electric Cars

Electric Cars are about to take us into the future, join me and learn how close we are to swapping our internal combustion engines for electric ones.

Into The Future with Electric Cars

An Electric Car Motor

The internal combustion engine as we know it has been obsolete for decades, but because of the powerful and influential oil corporations,

They make billions of dollars off our natural gas and oil resources each year, alternative fuel power sources have been downplayed.

These facts cannot be hidden any longer with the advancement of the internet which 3.7 Billion people have access to daily.

There are many alternate power sources to drive our modern vehicles at present, I will be looking at one……………….. ELECTRICITY !!!

The 2020s could be the Decade when Electric Cars take over.

An Electric Motor installed in a VW Beetle

Electric Cars

 #Learn more

HISTORY

  • 1884 – Thomas Parker built the first practical production electric car in London, using his own specially designed high-capacity rechargeable batteries.
  • 1888 – German inventor, Andreas Flocken built the Flocken Elektrowagen which was regarded as the 1st electric car of the world.
Flocken Elektrowagen-reconstructed-1888
Flocken Elektrowagen-reconstructed-1888
Thomas Parkers Electric Car 1884
Thomas Parkers Electric Car 1884

In the late 19th century and early 20th-century electricity was one of the preferred methods of automobile propulsion due to its ease of use and comfort.

With advances in the technology of the internal combustion engine, due to its almost instant ability to travel greater distances by refuelling with liquid gasoline, it was more convenient than waiting to recharge an electric vehicle.

In 1911, Charles F. Kettering and Henry Leland, of Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company invented the electric starter in America.

They had replaced the hand crank on NC R’s cash registers with an electric motor five years earlier. With the invention of electric starter motors to start up our hand crank automobiles of that era.

Internal combustion engines became even more popular and frequently used. Needless to say, Electric Automobiles lost its Appeal and Popularity.


Our Modern World         

Electric Vehicle – is a term given to any vehicle that uses electricity as its only propulsion source.

An Electric Car Charging Station
An Electric Car Charging Station

Electric Cars

Are generally referred to as a highway-capable (over 100Kms per hour) Automobile powered by Electricity.

Low-Speed Electric Cars

Are classified in the US as neighbourhood electric vehicles (nev), and as electric motorized quadricycles in Europe, they are plug-in electric powered microcars with limitations by their weight and power. They are limited to the maximum speed that they can travel,  Golf Carts are a prime example.

A Custom Built Electric Car
A Custom Built Electric Car

While an electric car’s power source is not explicitly an onboard battery, electric cars with motors powered by other energy sources are generally referred to by different names:

  • An electric car carrying solar panels to power it is a solar car.
  • An electric car powered by a gasoline generator is a form of a hybrid car.
  • Thus, an electric car that derives its power from an on-board battery pack is a form of battery electric vehicle (BEV).
  • The term most often used is, ELECTRIC CAR.

How An Electric Car Works

Learn how it works here

  • A Simple DC controller connected to the Batteries and the DC Motor. When the driver floors the Accelerator Pedal the full 96 volts from the Batteries is delivered to the DC Motor.
  • If the driver takes his/her foot off the motor then 0volts are delivered from the Battery to the DC Motor.
  • For any settings in between the controller adjusts the 96volts thousands of times per second to deliver the average somewhere between 0 and 96 volts.
 There are fewer moving parts in an Electric Car making it more reliable, fewer breakdowns

=

cheaper maintenance.

Main Components of an Electric Car
Main Components of an Electric Car

 Do You want to know more?

Batteries

Battery technology for the modern electric car is still in the developing stage and is far from perfect. Those working on improving car battery technology are trying to find ways to prolong battery life, so increasing travelling range of the modern Electric Car.

The record stands at a claimed 350 Kms on a single charge as claimed by Chevrolet with their 2016 Chevy Bolt.

Battery Pack for Chevy Bolt
Battery Pack for Chevy Bolt

If it wasn’t so important for the future of electric cars, it could almost get tiresome.

Just how do you improve batteries for longer life, quicker charging and a greater range?

It’s a question being investigated by great minds all around the world and has turned up some surprising and exciting results over the last few years.

Aluminum-air

We’ve all heard–and laughed off–stories of water-powered cars. It just isn’t possible on any practical, car-based level. But aluminum-air uses water in a different way.

Aluminium is used as the anode in a battery, ambient air (and the oxygen in it) as a cathode, and water molecules. Combined in the battery, they produce hydrated aluminium oxide and energy–and that energy can be used to power a car.

The aluminium plates used have a high energy density, and companies testing it such as Phinergy say you’d need to refill the car with water every few hundred miles. The air–well, that’s all around us.

Chevy Bolt
Chevy Bolt Electric Car

Improved lithium-ion

Existing lithium-ion technology is among the best battery technology we have for electric cars and hybrids. Compared to other battery types it’s relatively energy-dense, charges relatively quickly, is lighter than many other battery types, and it’s tried-and-tested.

But it isn’t perfect, and several research groups are looking for a way to improve on its existing strengths.

Battery Life

The rate at which they expire depends on the type of battery and how they are used — many types of batteries are damaged by depleting them beyond a certain level. Lithium-ion batteries degrade faster when stored at higher temperatures, when they are rapidly charged, and when they are fully charged.

No Batteries Needed?

In March 2016 the Toyohashi University of Technology and Taisei Corp of Japan unveiled the first electrical car in the world that would be able to run without a battery

The electric car receives its charge from an electrified road. The test was made on an electrified road in Toyohashi.

It seems that with ongoing technological breakthroughs concerning electric car tech. we will be seeing some interesting developments in this sector.

 Battery Technology  Advances in Electric Cars

Inner City Charging Stations

Electric Cars Charging

  • At Home – With a normal domestic AC volt outlet – 100% – Overnight
  • At a Public Charging Station with 3 phase power – 80% – 1/2 Hour

The popularity of Electric Cars

Most popular car manufacturers have a model or 2 of an electric car in or ready for production. Tesla is believed to be the leaders here.

Below is a stat chart of sales in Electric Cars from 2008 to 2016, with Nissan Leaf leading the way in sales and popularity, this indicates the popularization of electric cars which is increasing exponentially each year.

Top-selling highway-capable electric cars and light
utility vehicles produced between 2008 and December 2016
(1)
Model Market
launch
Global
sales
Sales
through
Nissan Leaf Dec 2010 + 250,000 Dec 2016
Tesla Model S Jun 2012 + 158,000 Dec 2016
BMW i3 Nov 2013 ~ 65,500(2) Dec 2016
Renault Zoe Dec 2012 61,205 Dec 2016
BAIC EV series 2012 42,646(3) Dec 2016
Mitsubishi i-MiEV family Jul 2009 ~ 37,600 Jun 2016
BYD e6 Oct 2011 34,862(3) Dec 2016
Tesla Model X Sep 2015 25,524 Dec 2016
Renault Kangoo Z.E. Oct 2011 25,205 Dec 2016
Volkswagen e-Golf May 2014 24,498(4) Jun 2016
JAC J3/iEV family 2010 23,241(3) Jun 2016
 As Electric Car Technology advances it becomes more affordable, so it’s future is secured.

Renault Zoe Electric Car Cockpit

Renault Zoe Electric Car

Renault Zoe’s Move on the American EV Market

In the very near future, Electric Cars will become as normal as Internal Combustion Engined Cars are today.


What are YOUR  thoughts on Electric Cars?  Leave a comment below


Until Next Time “Safe Motoring”

Gary De La Cruz

I have been 30+ years in the motor industry, still hands on, and have great passion for my chosen profession, I learn new things each day and believe that "if you enjoy your work, you never have to work a day in your life"I believe in honesty, integrity and helping where help is needed.

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