EV Basics II – An Introduction to Electric Vehicles

Important acronyms:

BEV – Battery Electric Vehicle, a vehicle that uses only batteries and one or more motors to provide the power that drives it.

EV – Electric Vehicle, any vehicle that uses electrical energy to provide some or all of its propelling power.

FCEV – Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, an electric vehicle that uses a hydrogen fuel cell as its source of electrical power.

HEV – Hybrid Electric Vehicle, a car or truck that uses both an ICE and an electric motor.

ICE – Internal Combustion Engine, the engine of choice for the dirty and inefficient vehicles of the 20th century.

PHEV – plug-in hybrid vehicle, a hybrid vehicle with a battery pack that can be charged from a wall socket.

Have you just become interested in electric vehicles? Are you looking to learn some EV fundamentals? You have come to the right place! Read on and your education on the wonders of electric vehicles will begin. In this article, I’ll introduce readers to some of the different types of electric vehicles and explain some of the advantages and problems associated with each type. Please note that this article is just an introduction. I will delve into different aspects of the subject in future installments of the “EV Basics” series.

There are several different powertrains available that use electric motors. The simplest of these vehicles is the battery electric vehicle, or BEV. This is a pure electric vehicle that uses only a battery pack and an electric motor to store energy and create the power needed to make the car or truck move. BEVs have been around for a long time. In 1835, Thomas Davenport built a railroad that was powered by a small electric motor. In the early years of the 20th century, BEVs competed quite successfully with ICE-powered vehicles. It wasn’t until Henry Ford began building the Model T that gasoline-powered BEV vehicles disappeared from public view.

In the 1960s, BEVs began to make a comeback. Interest in electric vehicles has grown steadily ever since, as concerns about pollution and dependence on foreign oil have permeated the general consciousness. Today, BEVs are designed and manufactured in a wide variety of styles and designs, from electric scooters to low-speed electric cars, such as those produced by the Zenn Motor Company, to high-powered highway burners, such as the Tesla Roadster from two seats. or the family-friendly five-passenger eBox from AC Propulsion.

BEVs face some hurdles if they are to replace ICE-only cars as our primary method of transportation. Historically, they have had a limited driving range, significantly less than the range of a gas-powered car. Also, BEVs generally take several hours to recharge the battery. In a world where people have grown accustomed to instant gratification, this poses a real problem. The good news is that many people are working on these issues and drastic improvements are being made to both range and reload time. Current EV designs have achieved ranges of more than 300 miles and charging times have been reduced to two hours or less on some models charged with high-power “smart” chargers.

In the 1990s, Honda and Toyota introduced the hybrid electric vehicle, or HEV, to the American public. These vehicles use both an ICE and an electric motor. There are different types of HEVs that arrange the engine and motor in a parallel or series configuration. In a series configuration, the ICE acts solely as an electrical generator. In a parallel configuration, the ICE again acts as a generator, but also drives the vehicle’s wheels just as the engine would in an ICE-only vehicle.

HEVs provide significant benefits over ICE-only cars in two distinct areas. First, the electric motor allows engineers to operate the ICE more efficiently because an HEV can rely heavily on the electric motor at points where the ICE would be running very inefficiently. Second, an HEV’s battery can be used to recover energy used when braking. To achieve this, engineers create regenerative braking systems that use electrical resistance from a generator to slow the car down long before mechanical brakes come into play. Power from the generator is then stored in the battery pack for future use. In a car without regenerative braking, all this energy is wasted creating heat and wearing down the brake pads.

HEVs also have some problems. Unlike BEVs, they require some gasoline or other liquid fuel to run. Plus, they’re more complicated than a BEV or ICE-only vehicle because they require both types of driveline components under one hood. However, they do eliminate the range and recharging issues associated with BEVs, so HEVs can be seen as a good transitional step towards the vehicles of the future.

Recently, a lot of attention has been paid to plug-in hybrids, or PHEVs. In essence, a PHEV is an HEV with a larger battery pack, a plug that allows the battery pack to be charged from a wall outlet, and a control system that allows the vehicle to be operated in pure electric mode. The wall charging feature allows a PHEV to draw some of its power from the electric grid (or a local power source, such as a PV array or wind turbine) and some of its power from gasoline. Recently, various companies and individuals have been working on creating plug-in versions of the Toyota Prius. These conversions allow the Prius to run in all-electric mode until it reaches approximately 35 mph. They provide different travel ranges in all-electric mode, depending on the type of batteries used and how many additional batteries are installed.

While these plug-in Priuses are a good start, PHEVs as a genre have even more potential. General Motors recently introduced the Chevrolet Volt E-Flex concept car, a PHEV that can travel up to 40 miles in electric-only mode. It has a large electric motor and a one-liter three-cylinder ICE. Future PHEVs could follow this trend even further, maximizing powertrain electrical elements and reducing ICE to a small power plant used only as a last resort.

In recent years, fuel cell electric vehicles, or FCEVs, have grabbed a lot of headlines. These are electric vehicles that use a hydrogen fuel cell to provide power, eliminating the need for a battery pack. Proponents point out that hydrogen is the most abundant of the chemical elements and that the only gas emitted by an FCEV is pure water vapor. Detractors point out that almost all of the hydrogen available today is made from natural gas, a product of petroleum. Hydrogen is also difficult to store in sufficient quantities to give FCEVs adequate range, and can present safety risks when pressurized in tanks. Finally, FCEVs currently require complex and bulky support systems that take up excessive space and result in power delivery systems that are much less efficient than those present in BEVs.

Fuel cells have some potential to become part of the mainstream energy landscape in the future. However, many feel that FCEVs have been used primarily as a distraction and stalling device. Businesses and politicians keep telling us, “We’ll have FCEVs in the near future, but until then, keep driving your Hummers!” These tactics prevent people from demanding BEVs as soon as possible. As one saying goes: “Viable and practical fuel cells are ten to twenty years away, and always will be.”

Another type of electric vehicle is the human-assisted hybrid. The most common example of this type of vehicle is the electric bicycle. These are commonly available, inexpensive, and give people the health benefits associated with exercise while providing an extra boost when needed. Legally, they must be limited to 20 mph in electric assist mode, and the range of the electric-only electric bikes now available is almost always less than twenty miles.

However, readers should ponder the fact that a small, streamlined vehicle can cruise to 65 mph on a flat road using just five horsepower. Imagine highways covered by small, efficient vehicles that use tiny electric motors and human power to reach highway speeds without putting a significant load on the utility network. While no major companies are working on vehicles like this, small groups of dedicated people are working to make this type of vehicle available to the general public. These low powered vehicles could become the ultimate transportation solution for an energy conscious society.

So there you have it! Now you have enough information to join the EV-related conversations at your next social gathering. You can talk about the different types of electric vehicles, letting people know about what’s available now and what’s coming in the near future. If you’re still curious to learn more about the benefits of electric vehicles and the advances being made in the field, check out the other articles in this “EV Basics” series.