Informative Speech
What is an electric car and how is it different from a gas-powered car?
Jackson Musgrove
From work to holiday parties, from school to sports events, from the simple confinements of your house to the scary world outside of those walls, a car is part of most people's everyday life. Now there are a lot more options and recently, electric cars entered the automobile industry and are slowly taking over the market. These are fairly new to most people as they do not know how an electric car works and how it is seen as contrasting from your classic gas-powered car.
Electric motors, the first step to inventing the electric car and the most important part of it all, was first introduced and stated by Lowry and Larminie “following Michael Faraday’s work in 1821.” Shortly after this was another step forward. Lowry and Larminie define it as the first “electric motor capable of turning machinery [which] was invented by the British scientist William Sturgeon in 1832.” Which would then lead to the production of an electric locomotive. This is a huge step toward establishing the role of electricity in the automotive and commercial transportation scene; however, there was one major issue: the battery was not non-rechargeable (Lowry and Larminie 2). Meaning that when the battery died, it had to be thrown away and unable to be used again which is extremely inefficient. This is also around the same time when the first electric car was invented. Although it was small and unreliable, it was a progression toward a bigger picture.
Now, what makes these electric cars different from your typical gas-powered car that you guys see every day on the road is that they are powered by an electric motor. Composed of, most likely, a lithium-ion battery, and “To charge [it] you [just] plug it into an electrical outlet. Recharge time depends on the size of the car’s battery and the power source it’s plugged into. A typical household outlet will fully recharge a battery in between six and 16 hours, depending on the car” says Moorhouse and Laufenberg. Though quiet, it will surprise you with the power these electric cars hold.
This is thanks to not only the battery but also the drive train as a whole. A drivetrain is a group of contents that deliver power to the wheels. Allowing the car to move with speed. An electric car's drivetrain consists of three main parts. The first being the electric propulsion subsystem which consists of the vehicle controller, power electronic converter, electric motor, mechanical transmission, and driving wheels. The second being the energy source subsystem which involves the energy source, the energy management unit, and the energy refueling unit. And the last one being the auxiliary subsystem which is mainly the power steering unit (Nanaki 15-16). These aspects all help to make the electric car utterly unique, whisper quiet, and super competitive in a market full of gas-powered vehicles.
You may be asking yourself right now, where is the need for such a vehicle? The simple answer and assumption is that they help tremendously with CO2 and noise pollution in the earth's atmosphere. However, these issues are not being fully resolved as the power plants used to make the vehicle and to produce the energy are still polluting. It is a better alternative though.
The switch from gas to electric is not as simple as it may seem. On average the price of base electric cars are more expensive than its counterpart, even though the money saved on gas prices may make up for it in the long run. Also, the price of the batteries used to power the car are slowly increasing due to the raw materials used in them. The issue of charging stations is also a challenge seen by many owners, but the amount of stations is quickly on the rise (Soylu 22).
Electric engines have taken years, change after change, to develop what we see on the market today. Quiet speed demons with the potential to do good for the environment and on the track. And although the switch may not be as easy as you want it, it is seen as necessary by many and is definitely something to think about the next time you are considering a car.
Bibliography
Lowry, John, and James Larminie. Electric Vehicle Technology Explained. Wiley, 2012. Google Books.
Moorhouse, Jeremy, and Katie Laufenberg. “Electric Vehicles: Powering the Future.” Pembina Institute, 2010. JSTOR. Accessed 29 Sep. 2022.
Nanaki, Evanthia. Electric Vehicles for Smart Cities: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities. Elsevier Science, 2020. Google Books.
Soylu, Seref. Electric Vehicles: The Benefits and Barriers. IntechOpen, 2011. Google Books.