Electric car is nothing but the car which runs on battery. There is no petrol or diesel engine. Instead of IC engine, it has DC motor. The motor runs on battery. The battery is rechargeable Lithium ion with high energy storage capacity. The new electric cars can run almost 300KM with one full charge. There is no IC engine, hence there is no burning of petrol and diesel. There is no pollution and almost no noise.
Advantages of Electric Car
- Cheaper to run. It runs on electricity which is far cheaper than petrol/ diesel.
- No requirement of petrol/diesel/gas.
- Reduces harmful emission. Reduces pollution.
- Lowest maintenance cost.
- Reduced noise pollution
- Better health due to no pollution.
- Energy security due to no dependence on supply of petrol/diesel from foreign countries.
- Government incentives to buy electric car.
- Performance of electric car is better than conventional car
- More safety features
Disadvantages of Electric Car
- Currently shortage of public charging station on highways and major roads creating range anxiety among buyers
- Recurring cost of battery replacement
- Longer recharge time.
- Silence of electric car can lead to accident as people like to hear noise of the car coming from behind.
- Electric cars are costly
- Not suitable for location where there is frequent power cut or no source of electricity
Types of Electric car
There are basically 3 types of electric vehicles.
- Battery electric vehicle (BEV)
This is fully electric vehicle with rechargeable battery and there is no IC engine. Battery electric vehicle store electricity in their high capacity battery packs. This battery power is used to run the motor and other onboard electronics devices. This battery is charged externally from an electric source. This electric vehicle do not emit any harmful pollutant in the environment.
Some of the BEV’s are
- Tesla Model S, Model 3, Model X
- Nissan Leaf
- Toyota Rav4
- Kia Soul
- Hyundai Ioniq
- Ford Focus electric
- Chevy Bolt, Spark
- BMW i3
- Volkswagen e-Golf
- Plug-in Hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV)
PHEV cars runs on both battery power as well as IC engine. Hence, it is called hybrid electric vehicle.
These vehicles use external source of electric power (Plug in) for recharging the battery as well as regenerative braking system. There is gasoline (Internal combustion) engine to run the vehicle when the battery power is used up.
PHEV models available in the market are
- Mercedes C350e, S550e, GLE550e
- Audi A3 E-Tron
- BMW i8, 330e, X5,
- Fiat 500e
- Hyundai Sonata
- Kia Optima
- Toyota Prius
- Ford Fusion Energi, C-Max Energi
- Chevy Volt
- Volvo XC90
- Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV)
Hybrid electric vehicle runs on both electricity as well as gasoline. The battery in the car is charged by using regenerative braking system. Regenerative braking uses an electric motor as a generator to convert kinetic energy into electric energy and stored in the battery.
This vehicle starts off using electric motor and then as load and speed increase after certain time, gasoline engine takes over.
These vehicles produce harmful emission lesser than normal gasoline vehicle.
HEV’s available in the market
- Honda Civic hybrid
- Toyota Prius hybrid
- Toyota Camry hybrid
Electric vehicle is taking centerstage around the globe. Next generation cars are going to be electric and disruptive technology will dominate the world.