Electric Vehicles : Historical Development & Basics about EV's
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You might have read news couple of weeks ago that Elon Musk Owner of Tesla became richest person on the planet (even though only for some time). Off course he is having many other companies like Space X , Neuralink and The Boring Company etc. but major chunk of his fortune comes from Tesla.
There are many economist who can tell you why Tesla topping the charts but one thing I can say that Tesla isn’t selling maximum no. of cars in world but its potential of company in future that investors are betting on.
Point I want to make is people sees lots of potential in Electric vehicles in future but what about current situation, are conventional internal combustion engine are dying, are electric vehicles completely new phenomenon, are EV’s really that much green as many claims??
We will discuss these questions in this blog.
Electric motor was discovered in 1740, century before IC engine discovery. After that in 1834 Professor Sibrandus of Netherlands, created initial prototypes of electric vehicles. However this was just for research work could not gain commercial attention. Many research work continues in the field of vehicles.
At the same time steam powered vehicles were also in the use, however they were not much popular because time required for steam generation and maintainace. (Cugnot's steam-powered dampfwagen is widely accepted to be the world's first automobile discovered around 1800)
Real breakthrough in the field of automotive came when Internal combustion engine discovered in 1862 (petrol) and 1892 (diesel). Even though ICE was gaining popular there was issues like starting of ICE and exhaust smokes.
These issue were not present in electric vehicles since they were quiet, relatively easy to operate, and had no noxious emissions of any kind.
a) Conventional ICE : No traction motor or battery pack vehicle driven
by Internal combustion engine. (Fuel might be Petrol, diesel, CNG etc.)
b) Mild/ Micro Hybrids Vehicles :
Engine still dominates in this type having small hybridization like start-stop etc. This type of vehicles driven by both engine and electricity. For most part of vehicle running its driven by engine. But electric energy is generated by car's own braking system to recharge battery (this is called as 'regenerative braking'.
This stored energy gets utilized when vehicle needs extra power i.e. accelerating mode. It helps improving fuel efficiency of engines.
e.g Toyota Prius Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid
c) Plug in Hybrid vehicles (PHEVs): Traction motor can drive vehicle for some distance , both ICE and traction motors can be clubbed. e.g. Toyota Camery
PHEV's provided with ICE which acts as power source and can charge batteries, apart from that batteries can be recharged through separately by electrical power.
e.g. Chevy Volt, Chrysler Pacifica
d) Battery Electric vehicles (Full Electric Vehicles):
Battery Electric Vehicles, also called BEVs, and more frequently called EVs, are fully-electric vehicles with rechargeable batteries and no engine. Battery electric vehicles store electricity onboard with high-capacity battery packs. Their battery power is used to run the electric motor and all onboard electronics.
Below is general layout for Electric motors and its components
a) Traction Battery Pack:
Traction batteries are most heavy and costly part of electric vehicles.
Cost of batteries is one of the hurdle in way of development electric vehicles. As shown in image below battery pack is located at the bottom of passenger cabin.
We will discuss these questions in this blog.
What are Electric Vehicles:
Electric cars are vehicles which uses electric motor for propulsion which gets energy by rechargeable battery instead of conventional ICE.
Historical Rivalry between Electric vehicle Vs. ICE
Some of you might surprise that electric vehicle are as old as IC engine vehicles. Below is timeline for race between EV’s and ICE’s.
At the same time steam powered vehicles were also in the use, however they were not much popular because time required for steam generation and maintainace. (Cugnot's steam-powered dampfwagen is widely accepted to be the world's first automobile discovered around 1800)
These issue were not present in electric vehicles since they were quiet, relatively easy to operate, and had no noxious emissions of any kind.
Hence during this period both ICE and electric vehicles were in the market. So we are in 2021 we are at same stage as 100-110 years back where there were vehicles with ICE and EV’s. Then what happened afterwards why EV’s got extinct afterwards,
Two incident is responsible for this as below,
The battle seemed to be won, and or the next 30 years combustion engine vehicles would rule supreme. Again during 1970’s when there was oil crisis around world and stringent pollution norms were implemented which triggered rebirth of EV’s .
Even after that EV’s could not match with ICE due obvious advantages of ICE over EV’s. Many global OEM had EV’s in there portfolio but it wasn’t got mainstream attention. Many hybrid vehicles by Toyota, Nissan , GM became popular, however real game changer for EV was start of Tesla.
Why Tesla was big deal for Automotive field was that he made electric vehicle glamorous and not just research project for R&D department. Tesla did what Apple did for mobile industries, i.e. made it fast moving & innovation laden one. It proved that people are ready to buy electric vehicles, even though there are many issues.
If you remember IC engine 20-30 years back they were hardly having sensors or electric components but now days it will have hundreds of sensors , processors and huge sets of wiring harness. The point I want to make is that already vehicles with ICE having considerable degree of electrification.
More we increase degree of hybridization, category of vehicle changes. Based on degree of electrification / hybridization vehicles can be categorized as below:
- Ironically, or perhaps intentionally, Ford started development of the popular Model T vehicle, specifically with his mass production process. This caused the death knell for the early electric cars. A Model T in 1912 cost around $650 apiece - an electric alternative cost almost three times that, at around $1,750.
- Other developments in gasoline engines, like Charles Kettering's electrical starter , removed one of the main irritations of the early combustion engines - the hand crank. Electric vehicles received final shock when road systems were improved and abundant reserves of crude oil began to be discovered
These, and other factors, all contributed to the fall of electric cars, and they had all but disappeared by around 1935.
Even after that EV’s could not match with ICE due obvious advantages of ICE over EV’s. Many global OEM had EV’s in there portfolio but it wasn’t got mainstream attention. Many hybrid vehicles by Toyota, Nissan , GM became popular, however real game changer for EV was start of Tesla.
Why Tesla was big deal for Automotive field was that he made electric vehicle glamorous and not just research project for R&D department. Tesla did what Apple did for mobile industries, i.e. made it fast moving & innovation laden one. It proved that people are ready to buy electric vehicles, even though there are many issues.
Electrification of Automobile:
Now you might think there vehicle with ICE and electric vehicles are two opposite poles but actually it’s not the case.If you remember IC engine 20-30 years back they were hardly having sensors or electric components but now days it will have hundreds of sensors , processors and huge sets of wiring harness. The point I want to make is that already vehicles with ICE having considerable degree of electrification.
More we increase degree of hybridization, category of vehicle changes. Based on degree of electrification / hybridization vehicles can be categorized as below:
a) Conventional ICE : No traction motor or battery pack vehicle driven
by Internal combustion engine. (Fuel might be Petrol, diesel, CNG etc.)
b) Mild/ Micro Hybrids Vehicles :
Engine still dominates in this type having small hybridization like start-stop etc. This type of vehicles driven by both engine and electricity. For most part of vehicle running its driven by engine. But electric energy is generated by car's own braking system to recharge battery (this is called as 'regenerative braking'.
This stored energy gets utilized when vehicle needs extra power i.e. accelerating mode. It helps improving fuel efficiency of engines.
e.g Toyota Prius Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid
PHEV's provided with ICE which acts as power source and can charge batteries, apart from that batteries can be recharged through separately by electrical power.
e.g. Chevy Volt, Chrysler Pacifica
d) Battery Electric vehicles (Full Electric Vehicles):
Battery Electric Vehicles, also called BEVs, and more frequently called EVs, are fully-electric vehicles with rechargeable batteries and no engine. Battery electric vehicles store electricity onboard with high-capacity battery packs. Their battery power is used to run the electric motor and all onboard electronics.
e.g. Audi e-tron, BMWi3/i3s, Tesla Model 3, Hyundai Kona.
Electrical vehicle layout:
Traction battery pack is power house of electric vehicles. We are familiar with Lead acid batteries in conventional vehicles. Even though function of lead acid batteries is to provide power only accessories in vehicle like light, horn etc. still its considerably heavy. Imagine how much storage might be required for propelling a vehicles.
Cost of batteries is one of the hurdle in way of development electric vehicles. As shown in image below battery pack is located at the bottom of passenger cabin.
Typical battery pack consists of battery modules which divided into no. of battery cells. As shown in below battery pack of Tesla Model s which consists of 16 battery module which has 7104 small batteries.
This weights about 1200 pounds.
i) Lead–acid batteries.
ii) Nickel–metal hydride batteries.
iii) Lithium–sulfur batteries.
iv) Lithium–air batteries.
v) Zinc–air batteries.
Although there are various types of batteries used in electric vehicles
Li-Ion batteries are most popular amongst them.
Below are types of batteries tried earlier and some of them may gain popularity in future:
ii) Nickel–metal hydride batteries.
iii) Lithium–sulfur batteries.
iv) Lithium–air batteries.
v) Zinc–air batteries.
b) Traction Motor:
The core element of the EV's, apart from Electric Vehicle Batteries, which replaces the Internal Combustion engines is an Electric motor.
The electric motors used for automotive applications should have characteristics like high starting torque, high power density, good efficiency, etc.
Below are types of elctric motors used for electric vehicles:
c) Power Electronics: Below power electronics devices are used in Electric vehicles.
The BTMS should be equipped with four essential functions to ensure the right operation conditions of the battery pack:
- DC Series Motor
- Brushless DC Motor
- Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM)
- Three Phase AC Induction Motors
- Switched Reluctance Motors (SRM)
Electric motors utilized in electric vehicle ought to possess imperative properties such as in easy plan, high vitality, low cost, and great control.
BLDC motors and 3-phase IM are the two most preferred engines by EV makers.
Below are some of electric vehicles and type of motors used:
a) DC-DC & AC-DC Converter
b) Inverters
c) Rectifiers
Power electronics are devices are solid state electronics devices which used for controlling and converting electricity,.
d) Battery Thermal Management system:
Battery Thermal Management system is very critical from performance & safety of battery. Batteries are very much sensitive to temperature in terms of its storage capacity i.e. batteries performance deteriorate at lower temperatures.
a) Cooling, b) Heating (in cold region) c) Insulation d) ventilation
To ensure a proper thermal working environment, a Battery Thermal Management System (BTMS) will normally be integrated with battery cells.
To ensure a proper thermal working environment, a Battery Thermal Management System (BTMS) will normally be integrated with battery cells.
There are below types of cooling systems used in electric vehicles,
1) Air Cooling and Heating
2) Liquid Cooling and Heating
3) Direct Refrigerant Cooling and Heating
4) PCM (Phase Change Methode)
2) Liquid Cooling and Heating
3) Direct Refrigerant Cooling and Heating
4) PCM (Phase Change Methode)
5) Thermo-electric Module
e) Charging Port: It connects external power source to battery of vehicle. Based on type of external charger used i.e. level 1,2 or 3 of charger, charging time of EV varies.
The classifications are Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 or DC fast charging. Level 1 EV charging uses a standard household (120v) outlet to plug into the electric vehicle and takes over 8 hours to charge an EV for approximately 75-80 miles. Level one charging is typically done at home or at your workplace. Level 1 chargers have the capability to charge most EVs on the market.
Level 2 charging requires a specialized station which provides power at 240v. Level 2 chargers are typically found at workplaces and public charging stations and will take about 4 hours to charge a battery to 75-80 miles of range.
Level 3 charging, DC fast charging, or simply fast charging is currently the fastest charging solution in the EV market. DC fast chargers are found at dedicated EV charging stations and charge a battery up to 90 miles range in approximately 30 minutes.
Level 2 charging requires a specialized station which provides power at 240v. Level 2 chargers are typically found at workplaces and public charging stations and will take about 4 hours to charge a battery to 75-80 miles of range.
Level 3 charging, DC fast charging, or simply fast charging is currently the fastest charging solution in the EV market. DC fast chargers are found at dedicated EV charging stations and charge a battery up to 90 miles range in approximately 30 minutes.
So this it for this part of blog on electric vehicles, we will continue with other details of electric vehicles such as Advantages / disadvantages of EV, Electric vehicles in Indian scenario and so on.
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Very well explained. Need of the hour. Thanks and waiting for your next blog.👍
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot..
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