Electric vehicles are cars that run on electricity and can be plugged in so as to recharge. According to experts at Cornerstone Technologies Limited, electric cars can be powered by electric batteries or a combination of a conventional engine and batteries.
The government is very keen on supporting the uptake of electric cars alongside other modes of transport. Electric cars don’t just help minimize climate-damaging emissions. They also reduce air pollution.
Supporting this uptake also supports the government and its initiative about driving toward a net-zero emission economy. Currently, the government is considering more measures to increase the approval of low-emissions cars and electric vehicles.
Inner Components of Electric Cars
Electric vehicles have around 90% fewer moving parts compared to Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cars. Some of these parts include:
- Charging: With a charging station from EV charging suppliers, you can plug your car into an EV charging point or outlet so as to charge the battery.
- Batteries: Store enough power needed to run your electric vehicle. The more the kW of your battery, the higher the range.
- Drivetrain: Electric cars have a single-speed transmission that sends power from the motor to the car’s wheels.
- Inverter: Converts the current from DC (Direct Current) to AC (Alternating Current).
- Motor/electric engine: Provides electrical power so as to rotate your car’s wheels. It might be AC or DC type, but AC motors are popular.
Types of EV and General Principles of How Electric Cars Work
Different kinds of EVs are developed and changed continuously, offering potential users and consumers more options.
Currently, the world is already familiar with terms like FCEV, PHEV, HEV, and BEV. How electric car works is dependent on the kind of EV.
But in general, when you press the pedal of your EV, the controller regulates and takes electrical power from inverters and batteries. The inverter sends enough electrical energy to the car’s motor with the controller in place.
This motor converts the energy into mechanical power during rotation. Basically, this rotation is necessary as it enables the wheels to turn and your car to move.
PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle)
Instead of depending on electric motors, PHEVs provide a mixture of diesel (petrol) and battery power. This makes hybrid electric cars suitable for traveling longer distances as you will be able to switch between traditional fuels instead of finding charge points to top up your battery.
All-Electric Vehicles
All-electric cars, also known as battery-electric cars, come with electric motors instead of combustion engines. The car uses a big traction battery pack so as to power the motor and should be plugged into charging equipment or wall outlet from EV charging suppliers.
Since they run on electricity, the cars don’t emit exhaust from their tailpipes and don’t have the normal liquid fuel components, like:
- Fuel tanks
- Fuel line
- Fuel pump
Fuel Cell Electric Cars
These cars, commonly known as FCEVs, are powered by electricity. Though they are not so different from plug-in hybrids or all-electric cars.
Their power systems consist of many cells combined into a single stack, which chemically combines oxygen from air and hydrogen gas from the tank of the car in order to produce electrical power.
These fuel cells have a range of around 400 miles on a tank, and you can refuel them in five minutes at one of the hydrogen fueling stations.
Different Kinds of Electric Vehicle Chargers
Mainly, there are three kinds of electric chargers. These include rapid, fast, and slow. When it comes to rapid chargers, there are two forms: DC and AC. DC rapid chargers provide 50kW or more, whereas AC rapid chargers give a power output of around 43kW. Both of these chargers can replenish your EV’s battery to 80% capacity within one hour, based on the battery’s capacity.
As for the fast charger, people consider it a standard outdoor car charger. It gives an electrical power output of about 20kW and can fully charge within four hours. Connectors of a fast charger are usually tethered with two kinds of sockets, which also depends on the kind of car you have.
On the other hand, slow chargers are standard-3 pin plug sockets, mostly found in most Irish homes. They are perfect when it comes to overnight charging. According to EV experts, they have an output of 3kW, and you can use them for home charging. Slow chargers also take about 30 hours to fully charge your electric car or around four hours to charge a plug-in hybrid.
The Global Fuel Economy and Electric Mobility Initiative
As part of the GFEI (Global Fuel Economy Initiative), UN Environment Program currently supports more than 40 country projects, developing non-fiscal and fiscal programs and national policies to encourage energy efficiency, especially in light-duty cars.
The continuous promotion of electric vehicles and their representation within the effective car policies package is part of GFEI.
Establishing a baseline of fuel economy is basically the first and most important step toward developing electric mobility strategies. It provides enough information regarding the efficiency of new cars, and it is vital for every policy development so as to minimize the use of road transport energy.
Benefits of EVs
Owning an EV is like giving the planet a high five. You’re basically entitled to feel a little smug about buying the car since choosing electricity over fuel is the best course of action in keeping the environment safe.
Electric vehicles generate zero exhaust emissions. This means that there will be no nasties getting into the atmosphere.
EVs, especially BEV (battery electric cars), also have fewer moving parts compared to diesel or petrol vehicles. Thus, servicing them is simple, cheaper, and less frequent than diesel or petrol cars. Apart from being cheaper to maintain and better for the environment, other benefits of EVs include:
- Costs less to run
- Affordable to register
- Better for energy security
The Bottom Line!
EVs are cleaner than many efficient conventional petrol or diesel cars in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. But how clean it is depends on the source of electricity and the kind of car you have or drive.
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