Week 6 Topic 13 -Electric cars Done by: XXX YYY

1) What is it?
- An electric car is an automobile that is powered by 1 or more electric
motors
- The Motors use energy stored in rechargeable batteries
- The first practical electric cars were produced in the 1880s.
They are called All-Electric cars (EVs) while they are cars which support
both Petrol and Electric and they are called Hybrid vehicles.
- All-Electric vehicles (EVs) have an electric motor instead of an internal
combustion engine. Therefore, the vehicle uses a large traction battery
pack to power the electric motor
- Since they are rechargeable, they are plugged in to a charging station or
wall outlet to charge.
How Electric Vehicles come about?
. They are first seen in mid -19th century, back then Electric Vehicles are
not as preferred than Combustion engine Vehicles due to its high cost
and low top speed. In the 21st-century, Electric Vehicles gained more
interest of people due to growing concern over the problems associated
with hydrocarbon-fueled vehicles. This includes damage to the
environment caused by their emissions, and the sustainability of the
current hydrocarbon-based transportation infrastructure as well as
improvements in electric vehicle technology.
2) What is the purposes and functions?
Purpose
- Electric Vehicles are created as the world advances in batteries, the
desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to improve urban air
quality. People use Electric Vehicles as they are connected, fun, and
practical. They can reduce emissions and even save you money. Electric
motors react quickly, EVs are very responsive and have very good
 torque. Electric Vehicles are relatively cheaper to run and maintain at a
long -time basis than combustion engine vehicles. It also pollutes the
environment lesser as it uses renewable energy as ‘fuel’ for the car.
Lastly, it is also a trend to build cars with eco-friendly materials.
Functions
There are 5 basic components in an Electric Vehicle and their functions
1. Traction Battery Pack
- The battery in an electric car functions as it gets a signal from the
controller, the battery will flow DC electrical energy to the inverter to
then be used to drive the motor. The most widely used battery is the
type of lithium-ion batteries
2. Power Inverter
- The inverter functions to change the direct current (DC) on the battery
into an alternating current (AC) and then this alternating current is used
by an electric motor. The type of inverter used in some electric car
models is the bi-directional inverter.
3. Controller
- The main function of the controller is as a regulator of electrical energy
from batteries and inverters that will be distributed to electric motors.
This manages the flow of electrical energy delivered by the traction
battery, controlling the speed of the electric traction motor and the
torque it produces.
4. Electric Traction Motor
- As the controller provides electrical power from the traction battery, the
electric traction motors will work turning the transmission and wheels.
The type of Electric motor used is Brushless DC motor (BLDC).
5. Other Electric Car Components
- Other components such as the charger gets the power from solar
panels, AC is converted to DC then stored in battery. The thermal system
also helps to maintain a proper working temperature for the
components etc.
 3) How each of it works?

There are 3 different types of Electric cars

1. Plug-in electric - The Car runs purely on electricity and get all their power
when they are plugged in to charge. They don't need petrol or diesel to run.
Singapore Blue-SG electric car is an example as it relies on pure electricity

2. Plug-in Hybrid – The car mainly run on electricity but also have a traditional
fuel engine so you can use petrol or diesel too. If you run out of charge, the
car will switch to using fuel. It only produces emissions when running on
fuel. Able to charge by plugging in to electric source.

An example is the Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV

3. Hybrid-electric - These run mainly on fuel like petrol or diesel but also have
an electric battery too, which is recharged through regenerative breaking.
These let you switch between using your fuel engine and using 'EV' mode at
the touch of a button. These cars cannot be plugged in to an electricity
source and rely on petrol or diesel for energy.
 An example is the Toyata Prius

4) What are the advantages and disadvantages?

Advantages
1. No Gas required for some electric vehicles
2. Savings - fuelled for very cheap prices
3. No emissions – does not emit poisonous gas to the air, 100% eco-
friendly
4. Safe to Drive - Battery cut when accident occurs and also same safety
procedures as normal combustion engine vehicles
5. Low maintenance - Electric cars runs on electrically powered engines
and hence there is no need to lubricate the engines.
6. Reduced noise pollution - Electric motors are capable of providing
smooth drive with higher acceleration over longer distances.
7. Cost-effective - with more technological advancements, both cost and
maintenance have gone down.
Disadvantages
1. Recharge locations - Not a lot of charging places you go to on a daily
basis will have electric fuelling stations for your vehicle.
2. Short Driving Range and Speed - Electric cars are limited by range and
speed.
3. Longer Recharge Time: While it takes couple of minutes to fuel your
gasoline powered car, an electric car takes about 4-6 hours to get
fully charged.
4. Battery Replacement - Depending on the type and usage of battery,
batteries of almost all electric cars are required to be changed every
3-10 years.
5. Silence as Disadvantage – People like to hear revving of engine,
electric cars does not support that.
 6. Not Suitable for Cities Facing Shortage of Power
5) How is it useful or help us?
- Electric Vehicles have become more popular as an option nowadays,
due to its cost-savings and non-emission of toxic fuels.
- Electric vehicles such as Plug-in hybrid and Hybrid-electric can be
drivable by both fuel and electric. If the car runs out of fuel halfway
while driving, Electric vehicles is able to switch to electric mode. While
this can save time and money for calling a tow truck.
- Due to any unfortunate circumstances, if a car encounters an accident,
Electric vehicles shows evidence that it is much safer than normal fueled
cars.
- Faultiness of the vehicle is easier identified as its engine its all electrical
components whereas fixing of an electric vehicle is much easier than
fueled cars.
- Electric cars can share electricity through a cable, if there is a need for
emergency reason and a car runs out of electricity.
- Eliminates our fuel cost and oil change charges therefore save us money
- As electric car grows in popularity, people would prefer electric car. It
can play a huge impact on to the world atmosphere and nature.

6) Electric cars vs combustion engine vehicles

Electric cars Combustion engine vehicles

Hybrid is most environmentally
friendly as they do not release
emissions whereas petrol vehicles
does
Hybrid cars are smaller and more
lightweight, they don’t tend to handle
as well as regular petrol cars do
Hybrids are also more costly to buy
and maintain than regular cars are.
Hybrid cars are smaller and more
lightweight, they don’t tend to handle
as well as regular petrol cars do
Hybrids are also more costly to buy
and maintain than regular cars are.
Hybrids are also more costly to buy
and maintain than regular cars are.
7) How can Electric car help to tackle climate change?
- Electric vehicles play an important part in meeting global goals on
climate change. While there is no green house gas produced by the
electric car, they still run on electricity that is still produced from fossil
fuels in many parts of the world. Energy is also used to manufacture the
vehicle in particular, the battery. Reports show that electric car uses 3
times lesser of lifetime emissions than a normal fueled car before
counting the electricity generation of the car.

8) What have you learnt from your research?

- Through my research on Electric cars, I have learnt a lot and I have
definitely understood more about them. I learnt the main components
needed to power an electric car and their different functions. I learnt
the history and the purpose of inventing the electric car, their
advantages towards our life and the environment. As my family owns
one electric car, I am glad I did this research to understand more on how
an electric car works. Now I know that the most common electric car
used these days is the plug in electric and the electric hybrid cars.