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Electric motor

Main articles: Traction motor and Energy efficiency

The power of a vehicle electric motor, as in other vehicles, is measured in kW. 100 kW is roughly equivalent to 134 horsepower, although most electric motors deliver full torque over a wide RPM range, so the performance is not equivalent, and far exceeds a 134 horsepower fuel powered motor, which has a limited torque curve.[citation needed]

[edit] Large-scale electric transport: energy and motors
A trolleybus uses two overhead wires to provide electrical current supply and return to the power source
A trolleybus uses two overhead wires to provide electrical current supply and return to the power source

Most large electric transport systems are powered by stationary sources of electricity that are directly connected to the vehicles through wires. Due to the extra infrastructure and difficulty in handling arbitrary travel, most directly connected vehicles are owned publicly or by large companies. These forms of transportation are covered in more detail in metros, trams, electric locomotives, and trolleybuses.

In the systems above motion is provided by a rotary electric motor. However, it is possible to "unroll" the motor to drive directly against a special matched track. These linear motors are used in maglev trains which float above the rails supported by magnetic levitation. This allows for almost no rolling resistance of the vehicle and no mechanical wear and tear of the train or track. Levitation and forward motion are two independent effects; the forward motive force normally requires external power, although some types, such as Inductrack, achieve levitation at low speeds without any. In addition to the high-performance control systems needed, switching and curving of the tracks becomes difficult with linear motors, which to date has restricted their operations to high-speed point to point services.

[edit] Small scale electric vehicles
50+ mph fun-ev electric scooter
50+ mph fun-ev electric scooter

Some bicycles have been converted to electric power with a small battery and a small electric motor, some even have solar panels that are folded out when the vehicle is at rest. Small scale electric vehicles include electric cars, light trucks, neighborhood electric vehicles, motorcycles, motorized bicycles, electric scooters , golf carts, milk floats, forklifts and similar vehicles.

[edit] Issues regarding electric vehicles

[edit] Renewable electricity

Main article: Renewable electricity

Although electric vehicles have few direct emissions, all rely on energy created through electricity generation which will emit pollution and generate waste, unless it is generated by renewable source power plants. Even with power plants emitting CO2, the overall levels would be reduced because the entire process of moving a car is more efficient using electricity than producing gasoline and burning it in a car's engine.[5] Since electric vehicles use whatever electricity is delivered by their electrical utility/grid operator, it is effortless to make vast amounts of electric vehicles more efficient or reduce/eliminate pollution by modify their generation stations that are the electrical source for them. This would be done by an electrical utility or by the government under an energy policy.

Fossil fuel vehicle efficiency and pollution standards take years or decades to take effect over a majority nation's vehicle fleet, since those new efficiency and pollution standards can propagate through retirement, scrapping, and totalling of vehicles already on the road. To upgrade or change the energy source of all only-fossil fuel vehicles already on the road or apply new pollution or efficiency standards to them at once, would be impossible in most societies, because of unaffordability by the vehicles' owners or upgrade costs exceed vehicle costs, owner possessiveness and social upheaval. In democracies, the populace and/or elected officials would terminate such a plan, in non-democratic nations, a military response would be required to enforce such upgrade regulations leading to instability which could result in a loss of power against the current regime. In nations with fixed cutoffs of retirement of old vehicles such as Japan or Singapore a mandatory upgrade of all vehicles already on the road, or in nations without a lower or middle class owning vehicles or the nations where such would be illegal (which leaves only large business and/or government and/or the upper class owning fossil fuel vehicles), would be more feasible to mass upgrades of fossil fuel vehicles already on the road.

Naturally, electric vehicles will take advantage of whatever environmental gains happen when a renewable energy generation station comes online, a fossil fuel station is decommissioned or upgraded. There is a con to this, if a government or economic conditions or an electrical utility decides to run a region's electrical grid off more polluting fossil fuels, or more inefficiently, the reverse can happen. Even in such a situation, electrical vehicles are still more efficient than a comparable amount of fossil fuel vehicles. In areas with a deregulated electrical energy market, an electrical vehicle owner can choose whether to run his electrical vehicle off conventional electrical energy sources, or strictly from renewable electrical energy sources (presumably at an additional cost), and switch at any time between the two.

If a large proportion of private vehicles were to convert to grid electricity, the existing power plant and transmission infrastructure would be nearly sufficient, assuming most charging occurred overnight using the most efficient off-peak base load sources. [5] But there would be a significant need for additional resources (and emissions) in generation. However, the overall energy consumption would diminish because of the higher efficiency of electric vehicles over the entire cycle.

Electromagnetic radiation from high performance electrical motors has been claimed to be associated with some human ailments, but such claims are largely unsubstantiated except for extremely high exposures.[6] Electric motors can be shielded within a metallic Faraday's cage, but this adds weight to the vehicle and it is not conclusive that all electromagnetic radiation can be contained.

Energy sources

See articles on diesel-electric and gasoline-electric hybrid locomotion for information on electric vehicles using internal-combustion energy sources).

Batteries, electric double-layer capacitors and flywheel energy storage are forms of rechargeable on-board electrical storage. By avoiding an intermediate mechanical step, the energy conversion efficiency can be improved over the hybrids already discussed, by avoiding unnecessary energy conversions. Furthermore, electro-chemical batteries conversions are easy to reverse, allowing electrical energy to be stored in chemical form.

Another form of chemical to electrical conversion is fuel cells, projected for future use.

For especially large electric vehicles, such as submarines, the chemical energy of the diesel-electric can be replaced by a nuclear reactor. The nuclear reactor usually provides heat, which drives a steam turbine, which drives a generator, which is then fed to the propulsion. See Nuclear Power

History

Electric motive power started with a small railway operated by a miniature electric motor, built by Thomas Davenport in 1835. In 1838, a Scotsman named Robert Davidson built an electric locomotive that attained a speed of four miles an hour. In England a patent was granted in 1840 for the use of rails as conductors of electric current, and similar American patents were issued to Lilley and Colten in 1847.^[1]

Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage, powered by non-rechargeable Primary cells.^[2]

By the 20th century, electric cars and rail transport were commonplace, with commercial electric automobiles having the majority of the market. Over time their general-purpose commercial use reduced to specialist roles, as platform trucks, forklift trucks, tow tractors and urban delivery vehicles, such as the iconic British milk float; for most of the 20th century, the UK was the world's largest user of electric road vehicles.^[3]

Electrified trains were used for coal transport as the motors did not use precious oxygen in the mines. Switzerland's lack of natural fossil resources forced the rapid electrification of their rail network. One of the earliest rechargeable batteries - the Nickel-iron battery - was favored by Edison for use in electric cars.

Electric vehicles were among the earliest automobiles, and before the preeminence of light, powerful internal combustion engines, electric automobiles held many vehicle land speed and distance records in the early 1900s. They were produced by Baker Electric, Columbia Electric, Detroit Electric, and others and at one point in history out-sold gasoline-powered vehicles.

In the 1930s, National City Lines, which was a partnership of General Motors, Firestone, and Standard Oil of California purchased many electric tram networks across the country to dismantle them and replace them with GM buses. The partnership was convicted of conspiring to monopolize the sale of equipment and supplies to their subsidiary companies conspiracy, but were acquitted of conspiring to monopolize the provision of transportation services. Electric tram line technologies could be used to recharge BEVs and PHEVs on the highway while the user drives, providing virtually unrestricted driving range. The technology is old and well established (see : Conduit current collection, Nickel-iron battery). The infrastructure has not been built.

In January 1990, General Motors' President introduced its EV concept two-seater, the "Impact," at the Los Angeles Auto Show. That September, the California Air Resources Board mandated major-automaker sales of EVs, in phases starting in 1998. From 1996 to 1998 GM produced 1117 EV1s, 800 of which were made available through 3-year leases.

Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Nissan and Toyota also produced limited numbers of EVs for California drivers. In 2003, upon the expiration of EV1 leases, GM crushed them. The crushing has variously been attributed to 1) the auto industry's successful Federal Court challenge to California's Zero-emissions vehicle mandate, 2) a federal regulation requiring GM to produce and maintain spare parts for the few thousands EV1s and 3) the success of the Oil and Auto industries' media campaign to reduce public acceptance of electric vehicles.

EV1

A movie made on the subject in 2005-2006 was titled Who Killed the Electric Car? and released theatrically by Sony Pictures Classics in 2006. The film explores the roles of automobile manufacturers, oil industry, the US government, batteries, hydrogen vehicles, and consumers, and each of their roles in limiting the deployment and adoption of this technology.

Honda, Nissan and Toyota also repossessed and crushed most of their EVs, which, like the GM EV1s, had been available only by closed-end lease. After public protests, Toyota sold 200 of its RAV EVs to eager buyers; they now sell, five years later, at over their original forty-thousand-dollar price.

[edit] Electric Cars

Electric vehicle

An electric vehicle, or EV, is a vehicle with one or more electric motors for propulsion. This is also referred to as an electric drive vehicle. The motion may be provided either by wheels or propellers driven by rotary motors, or in the case of tracked vehicles, by linear motors.

Unlike an internal combustion engine that is tuned to specifically operate with a particular fuel such as gasoline or diesel, an electric drive vehicle needs electricity, which comes from sources such as batteries, fuel cells or a generator. This flexibility allows the drive train of the vehicle to remain the same, while the fuel source can be changed.

The energy used to propel the vehicle may be obtained from several sources, some of them more ecological than others:

• on-board rechargeable electricity storage system (RESS), called Full Electric Vehicles (FEV). Power storage methods include:
  • chemical energy stored on the vehicle in on-board batteries: Battery electric vehicle (BEV)
  • static energy stored on the vehicle in on-board electric double-layer capacitors
  • kinetic energy storage: flywheels
• direct connection to land-based generation plants, as is common in electric trains and trolley buses (See also : overhead lines, third rail and conduit current collection)
• renewable sources such as solar power: solar vehicle
• generated on-board using a diesel engine: diesel-electric locomotive
• generated on-board using a fuel cell: fuel cell vehicle
• generated on-board using nuclear energy: nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers

It is also possible to have hybrid electric vehicles that derives energy from multiple sources. Such as:

• on-board rechargeable electricity storage system (RESS) and a direct continuous connection to land-based generation plants for purposes of on-highway recharging with unrestricted highway range
• on-board rechargeable electricity storage system and a fueled propulsion power source (internal combustion engine): plug-in hybrid

Electric vehicles can include electric airplanes, electric boats, and electric motorcycles and scooters.