How does an electric car work?
The electric car - at the moment this alternative drive is no longer just a research front, but the first models can also be purchased. But how does it actually work?
Driving without exhaust - this is how an electric drive works
In view of scarce and expensive fuels as well as the exhaust gas problem that has not been resolved despite the catalytic converter, they have been and will be Research efforts are being made through the use of electric cars to save energy and reduce air pollution minimize. So what do you need for an electric drive in a car and how does it all work?
- Instead of a combustion engine, the electric car is driven by a powerful electric motor, including control and translation into a gearbox. Here the individual manufacturers have developed different concepts, for example with or without a gear lever.
- This electric motor naturally requires electrical energy, i.e. electricity. He gets it from a battery, or more precisely from an accumulator as an element for storing electricity, which ultimately determines the range of the electric car.
- If the power storage is empty, it has to be recharged before the electric car can continue.
- From the necessary energy storage (as much as possible so that you can go far and as fast as possible to recharge so that the Waiting time is not too long) as well as an optimization in lightweight construction (low power consumption) sometimes result in contradictions Problem solving.
- Hybrid vehicles that use different types of energy (mostly diesel / gasoline and electric) to increase the range are a kind of compromise.
- Also of historical interest are the so-called. Gyro drives in which electrical energy is mechanically stored in a swing edge. This shape was used in buses, for example, in the last century.
The Think City electric car is produced by the Norwegian company Think Global ...
In principle very easy? - The problems of the electric car
The way the electric car works in principle makes things seem very simple. However, not all problems that have arisen have been resolved to date, which is also evident, for example, in the fact that the Development of an electric drive for vehicles was almost buried several years ago: The automotive industry took hold Fuel cells. It was only in the last few years that the electric car became a topic again: new battery or Battery technology made it possible.
- The biggest problem with an electric drive for vehicles is actually the energy storage, i.e. the battery. Because this has to store electrical energy for the desired long range of the electric car. The usual lead-acid batteries are completely unsuitable for this; Not too heavy battery systems with high storage density are desirable. It was precisely because of this problem that the first research approaches failed. And it was not for nothing that the first prototypes were small and light.
- Another problem: the energy storage system, i.e. the battery, has to be recharged. This process should of course be quick, because nobody wants to wait hours before they can continue. But that is taking too long at the moment. And of course there should also be a nationwide sales network.
- The electricity for the electric cars should be generated in an environmentally friendly and, as far as possible, climate-neutral manner, i.e. not simply come from the socket into which coal-fired power plants have "fed" it. In addition to solar energy, fuel cells, for example, are also suitable here.
