Battery electric vehicle - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A battery electric vehicle, or BEV, is a type of electric vehicle

Electric vehicle

An electric vehicle , also referred to as an electric drive vehicle, uses one or more electric motors or traction motors for propulsion...

(EV) that uses chemical energy

Energy

In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...

stored in rechargeable battery

Rechargeable battery

A rechargeable battery or storage battery is a group of one or more electrochemical cells. They are known as secondary cells because their electrochemical reactions are electrically reversible. Rechargeable batteries come in many different shapes and sizes, ranging anything from a button cell to...

packs

Battery pack

A battery pack is a set of any number of identical batteries or individual battery cells. They may be configured in a series, parallel or a mixture of both to deliver the desired voltage, capacity, or power density...

. BEVs use electric motor

Electric motor

An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...

s and motor controller

Motor controller

A motor controller is a device or group of devices that serves to govern in some predetermined manner the performance of an electric motor. A motor controller might include a manual or automatic means for starting and stopping the motor, selecting forward or reverse rotation, selecting and...

s instead of, or in addition to, internal combustion engine

Internal combustion engine

The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...

s (ICEs) for propulsion.

A battery-only electric vehicle or all-electric vehicle derives all its power from its battery packs and thus has no internal combustion engine, fuel cell

Fuel cell

A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Hydrogen is the most common fuel, but hydrocarbons such as natural gas and alcohols like methanol are sometimes used...

, or fuel tank

Fuel tank

A fuel tank is safe container for flammable fluids. Though any storage tank for fuel may be so called, the term is typically applied to part of an engine system in which the fuel is stored and propelled or released into an engine...

. Sometimes, all-electric vehicles are referred to as BEVs (although a plug-in hybrid is also a battery electric vehicle).

All-electric and hybrid electric vehicles

Vehicles using both electric motors and internal combustion engines are examples of hybrid electric vehicle

Hybrid electric vehicle

A hybrid electric vehicle is a type of hybrid vehicle and electric vehicle which combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. The presence of the electric powertrain is intended to achieve either better fuel economy than a conventional...

s, and are not considered pure (or all) EVs because they operate in a charge-sustaining mode.

Regular hybrid electric vehicles cannot be externally charged.
Hybrid vehicles with batteries that can be charged externally to displace some or all of their internal combustion engine power and gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...

fuel are called plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and are BEVs during their charge-depleting
Charge-depleting
Charge-depleting or EV mode refers to a mode of vehicle operation that is dependent on energy from the battery pack. Battery electric vehicles operate solely in this mode...

mode.

All-electric and plug-in hybrids are off-vehicle charge capable. (“OVCC” or pluginable), which means their batteries

Battery (electricity)

An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...

can be charged from an off-vehicle electric energy source that cannot be connected or coupled to the vehicle while the vehicle is being driven (so, it is autonomous).

Vehicles

The concept of battery electric vehicles is to use charged batteries

Electric vehicle battery

An electric vehicle battery or traction battery is a rechargeable battery used for propulsion of battery electric vehicles...

on board vehicles for propulsion.

Battery electric cars are becoming more and more attractive with the advancement of new battery technology (Lithium Ion) that have higher power and energy density

Energy density

Energy density is a term used for the amount of energy stored in a given system or region of space per unit volume. Often only the useful or extractable energy is quantified, which is to say that chemically inaccessible energy such as rest mass energy is ignored...

(i.e. greater possible acceleration and more range with less batteries) and higher oil prices.

BEVs include automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

s, light trucks, and neighborhood electric vehicle

Neighborhood electric vehicle

A Neighborhood Electric Vehicle is a U.S. denomination for battery electric vehicles that are legally limited to roads with posted speed limits as high as depending on the particular laws of the state, usually are built to have a top speed of , and have a maximum loaded weight of 3,000 lbs...

Electric bus

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...

operates nine zero-fare electric buses, which have been in operation since 1992 and have carried 11.3 million passengers and covered a distance of 3100000 kilometres (1,926,255.5 mi), They were made locally by Advanced Vehicle Systems. Two of these buses were used for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Wrightbus

Wrightbus

Wrightbus is an independent coachbuilder and pioneer of the low-floor bus. Based in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, it was established in 1946 by Robert Wright and currently run by his son William Wright.-History:...

has a new a hybrid-electric driveline for the StreetCar RTV which has been developed in conjunction with the ISE Corporation of California and incorporates Siemens ELFA traction components and a Cummins ISL engine. The chassis is built to Wright Group specifications by Swiss trolleybus specialists Carosserie Hess and is powered by Valence Technology

Valence Technology

Valence Technology, Inc. develops and manufactures advanced lithium iron phosphate cathode materials as well as programmable battery modules and trays. Valence's products are used in electric vehicle and Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles such as cars, scooters, motorbikes, commercial vehicles such...

lithium phosphate batteries .

Beginning in the summer of 2000, Hong Kong Airport began operating a 16-passenger Mitsubishi Rosa electric shuttle bus, and in the fall of 2000, New York City began testing a 66-passenger battery-powered school bus

School bus

A school bus is a type of bus designed and manufactured for student transport: carrying children and teenagers to and from school and school events...

, an all electric version of the Blue Bird TC/2000

Blue Bird TC/2000

The Blue Bird TC/2000 is a Type D school bus built by Blue Bird Corporation which was introduced for the 1988 model year. Blue Bird introduced the TC/2000 as a lower-cost alternative to the long-running All American line of transit-style school buses...

. A similar bus was operated in Napa Valley, California

Napa County, California

Napa County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is coterminous with the Napa, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The county seat is Napa....

for 14 months ending in April, 2004.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics

2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

used a fleet of 50 electric buses, which have a range of 130 km (80.8 mi) with the air conditioning on. They use Lithium-ion batteries, and consume about 1 kWh/mi. The buses were designed by the Beijing Institute of Technology and built by the Jinghua Coach Co. Ltd. The batteries are replaced with fully charged ones at the recharging station to allow 24 hour operation of the buses.

In France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, the bus electric phenomenon is in development, but we already can find some of them in operation in numerous cities of France. PVI, a medium company located in the Paris region, is one of the leader of the market with its brand Gepebus

Gepebus

Gépébus is a branding of electric autobuses made by PVI for the public transport.- History :In the 1990s PVI was among the first to offer full electric buses, the Oréos 22 and the Oréos 55 .Since the beginning of the 2000s, Gépébus is the brand name given to its 100% electric...

(offering Oreos 2X

Oréos 2X

The Oreos 2X is a 22-places electric minibus of the Gepebus line, made by PVI. The Oreos 2X is among the first electric transportation vehicles of this kind to be produced in France...

and Oreos 4X

Oréos 4X

The Oréos 4X is a 49-places electric midibus of the Gepebus' line of products, from PVI. Made for the operating of some urban regular lines, or also a private usage , the Oreos 4X is among the first entirely electric autobuses produced in France.This clean vehicle belongs to a new generation, more...

).

In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the first battery-electric, fast-charge bus has been in operation in Pomona, California since September 2010 at Foothill Tranist. The Proterra Inc EcoRide BE35 uses lithium-titanate batteries and is able to fast-charge in less than 10 minutes.

Thunder Sky

Thunder Sky (based in Hong Kong) builds lithium-ion batteries used in submarines and has three models of electric buses, the 10/21 passenger EV-6700 with a range of 280 km (174 mi) under 20 mins quick-charge, the EV-2009 city buses, and the 43 passenger EV-2008 highway bus, which has a range of 300 km (186.4 mi) under quick-charge (20 mins to 80%), and 350 km (217.5 mi) under full charge (25 mins). The buses will also be built in the United States and Finland.

Valence

Valence Technology

has entered into a contract with The Tanfield Group Plc to manufacture and supply Lithium Phosphate energy storage systems to power Tanfield’s all-electric commercial delivery vehicles. The Valence battery systems will be installed in vans and trucks produced by Tanfield’s UK-based trading division, Smith Electric Vehicles, the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vans and trucks.

Free Tindo

Tindo is an all-electric bus from Adelaide, Australia. The Tindo (aboriginal word for sun) is made by Designline International in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

and gets its electricity from a solar PV

Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic power generation employs solar panels composed of a number of solar cells containing a photovoltaic material...

system on Adelaide's central bus station

Bus station

A bus station is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. It is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can stop...

. Rides are zero-fare as part of Adelaide's public transport system.

First electric commercial bus

Seoul Metropolitan Government runs the world's first commercial all-electric bus service.
The bus was developed by Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hankuk Fiber which make body as light as possible from carbon composite material.
Provided by Li-on battery and Regenerative Braking Systems, the bus may run to 52 miles in a single 30 minutes charge. The maximum speed is 62 miles/hour.

First Fast-Charge, Battery-Electric Transit Bus

Proterra Inc's EcoRide BE35 transit bus, called the Ecoliner by Foothill Transit in West Covina, California, is the world’s first heavy duty, fast charge, battery-electric bus. Proterra's ProDrive drive-system uses a UQM motor and regenerative breaking that captures 90% of the available energy and returns it to the TerraVolt energy storage system, which in turn increases the total distance the bus can drive by 31-35%. It can travel 30-40 miles on a single charge, is up to 600% more fuel-efficient than a typical diesel or CNG bus, and produces 44% less carbon than CNG.

Trucks

Drive Star is a CalCars

CalCars

CalCars is a charitable, non-profit organization founded in 2002 to promote plug-in hybrid electric vehicles as a key to addressing oil dependence and global warming both nationally and internationally...

plan to cut our oil use in half by 2020. U.S. 100 million trucks, vans, and buses now gulp down one third of the oil. About half stay on the road a surprisingly long time: 15 to 35 years. That is long enough for CalCars to merit a makeover. Retrofitting these gas guzzlers will pay off. Mass conversions will cost under $10–$15,000. Retrofitters can partner with energy service companies to finance these costs, backed by federal loan guarantees. Since an electric mile is up to five times cheaper than a petroleum mile, retrofits will cost less to drive right away, benefitting vehicle fleets and individual drivers.

Semi-trailer trucks

The Port of Los Angeles and South Coast Air Quality Management District have demonstrated a short-range heavy-duty all electric truck capable of hauling a fully loaded 40 feet (12.2 m) cargo container. The current design is capable of pulling a 60000 lb (27.2 t) cargo container at speeds up to 40 mi/h and has a range of between 30 and 60 mi (48.3 and 96.6 km). It uses 2 kWh/mi, compared to 5 miles per US gallon (2.1 km/L) for the hostler semi

Semi-trailer truck

A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semi, tractor-trailer, or articulated truck or articulated lorry, is an articulated vehicle consisting of a towing engine , and a semi-trailer A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semi, tractor-trailer, or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) articulated truck...

tractors it replaces.

Milk float

A common example of the battery electric trucks is the milk float

Milk float

A milk float is a battery electric vehicle , specifically designed for the delivery of fresh milk. They were once common in many European countries, particularly the United Kingdom, and were operated by local dairies...

. Since it makes many stops in delivering milk it is more practical to use an electric vehicle than a combustion truck, which would be idling much of the time; it also reduces noise in residential areas. For most of the 20th century, the majority of the world's battery electric road vehicles were British milk floats.

Garbage truck

With a similar driving pattern of a delivery vehicle like the milk float above, garbage trucks are excellent candidates for electric drive. Most of their time is spent stopping, starting or idling. These activities are where internal combustion engine

Internal combustion engine

s are their least efficient. In preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games, 3,000 of the internal combustion engine garbage trucks in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

were replaced with lithium ion polymer battery pack electric drive trucks. The batteries were procured for about $3,300 each.

Pickup trucks

In early 2009, Phoenix Motorcars

Phoenix Motorcars

Phoenix MC, Inc. is a privately held Delaware corporation headquartered in Ontario, California, that does business as Phoenix Motorcars. The Company develops full-size, freeway speed electric vehicles...

will be shipping a test fleet of their all-electric SUT (Sports Utility Truck) to Maui. One of the surviving electric vehicles from the late 1990s is the Chevy S-10 electric pickup truck. Many other vehicles from this era, such as the General Motors EV1

General Motors EV1

The General Motors EV1 was an electric car produced and leased by the General Motors Corporation from 1996 to 1999. It was the first mass-produced and purpose-designed electric vehicle of the modern era from a major automaker, and the first GM car designed to be an electric vehicle from the...

were recalled and destroyed. A newcomer is the Miles Electric Vehicles

Miles Electric Vehicles

Miles Electric Vehicles is a manufacturer and distributor of all-electric vehicles manufactured by FAW Tianjin in China to meet international car safety standards...

ZX40ST electric truck now available in the United States. Miles Electric Vehicles

Miles Electric Vehicles

Miles Electric Vehicles is a manufacturer and distributor of all-electric vehicles manufactured by FAW Tianjin in China to meet international car safety standards...

is based in Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...

.

The Big Bike Company Limited, in Gloucestershire, England, is now offering fully electric pick up trucks for sale. Powered by an impressive bank of batteries, these small utility vehicles are able to deliver a payload of approximately 500 kg, and have a range of up to 80 miles. Using a 3 wheel configuration, the rolling and aerodynamic drag is reduced. As a tricycle it can also be driven on a motorcycle licence. They are marketed on the internet, and can be viewed on a temporary web site at www.electrux.net.

Electric cars

An electric car is a plug-in battery powered automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

which is propelled

Ground propulsion

Ground propulsion is a different term than transport, because it refers to solid bodies being propelled. Those bodies may be mounted on vats or using wheels while the latter dominates for standard applications....

by electric motor

Electric motor

An electric motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy.Most electric motors operate through the interaction of magnetic fields and current-carrying conductors to generate force...

(s).

Although electric cars often give good acceleration and have generally acceptable top speed, the lower specific energy

Specific energy

Specific energy is defined as the energy per unit mass. Common metric units are J/kg. It is an intensive property. Contrast this with energy, which is an extensive property. There are two main types of specific energy: potential energy and specific kinetic energy. Others are the gray and sievert,...

of production batteries available in 2010 compared with Carbon-based fuels means that electric cars need batteries that are fairly large fraction of the vehicle mass but still often give relatively low range between charges. Recharging can also take significant lengths of time. For shorter range commuter type journeys, rather than long journeys, electric cars are practical forms of transportation and can be inexpensively recharged overnight. Longer range journey options are currently being pursued by installing battery swapping station infrastructure throughout several pilot cities such as Tokyo.

Electric cars have the potential of significantly reducing city pollution by having zero tail pipe emissions

Zero-emissions vehicle

A zero-emissions vehicle, or ZEV, is a vehicle that emits no tailpipe pollutants from the onboard source of power. Harmful pollutants to the health and the environment include particulates , hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, ozone, lead, and various oxides of nitrogen. Although not considered emission...

.
Vehicle greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gas

A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...

savings depend on how the electricity is generated. With the current U.S. energy mix

Electricity generation

Electricity generation is the process of generating electric energy from other forms of energy.The fundamental principles of electricity generation were discovered during the 1820s and early 1830s by the British scientist Michael Faraday...

, using an electric car would result in a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

emissions.
Given the current energy mixes in other countries, it has been predicted that such emissions would decrease by 40% in the UK, 19% in China, and as little as 1% in Germany.

Electric cars are expected to have a major impact in the auto industry given advantages in city pollution

Motor vehicle emissions

Motor vehicle emissions are composed of the by-products that comes out of the exhaust systems or other emissions such as gasoline evaporation...

, less dependence on oil, and expected rise in gasoline prices. World governments are pledging billions to fund development of electric vehicles and their components. The U.S. has pledged in federal grants for electric cars and batteries. China has announced it will provide to initiate an electric car industry. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has predicted that one in 10 cars globally will run on battery power alone by 2020. Additionally a recent report claims that by 2020 electric cars and other "green" cars will take a third of the total of global car sales.

Special purpose vehicles

Special purpose vehicles come in a wide range of types, ranging from relatively common such as Golf carts, things like Electric golf trolley

Electric golf trolley

An electric golf trolley is a battery powered cart that is designed to carry a golf bag, complete with clubs and other golf equipment. It eliminates the need for golfers to carry their own clubs or hire a caddy, and requires much less effort than a manual push or pull trolley.Electric golf trolleys...

s, Milk float

Milk float

s, All-terrain vehicle

All-terrain vehicle

An all-terrain vehicle , also known as a quad, quad bike, three wheeler, or four wheeler, is defined by the American National Standards Institute as a vehicle that travels on low pressure tires, with a seat that is straddled by the operator, along with handlebars for steering control...

s, Neighborhood Electric Vehicle

Neighborhood electric vehicle

s, and a wide range of other devices. Certain manufacturers specialize in electric powered "in plant" work machines.

Milk floats are supposedly the reason that electronic control systems for electric vehicles were introduced. The story is that Milk float manufacturer Smith Electric Vehicles founded Smith Electric Vehicle Controls (Sevcon) to commercialize the technology.

Motors

Electric cars have traditionally used series wound DC motors, a form of brushed DC electric motor

Brushed DC electric motor

A brushed DC motor is an internally commutated electric motor designed to be run from a direct current power source.-Simple two-pole DC motor:The following graphics illustrate a simple, two-pole, brushed, DC motor.DC Motor Rotation...

. More recent electric vehicles have made use of a variety of AC motor

AC motor

An AC motor is an electric motor driven by an alternating current.It commonly consists of two basic parts, an outside stationary stator having coils supplied with alternating current to produce a rotating magnetic field, and an inside rotor attached to the output shaft that is given a torque by the...

types, as these are simpler to build and have no brushes that can wear out. These are usually induction motor

Induction motor

An induction or asynchronous motor is a type of AC motor where power is supplied to the rotor by means of electromagnetic induction. These motors are widely used in industrial drives, particularly polyphase induction motors, because they are robust and have no brushes...

s or brushless AC electric motor

Brushless AC electric motor

A Brushless AC electric motor, also known as a permanent magnet synchronous motor , is similar to a brushless DC electric motor in that the magnetic field of the rotor is supplied by the permanent magnets rather than by electromagnets. However, the stator windings of a brushless AC motor are ,...

s which use permanent magnets. There are several variations of the permanent magnet motor which offer simpler drive schemes and/or lower cost including the brushless DC electric motor

Brushless DC electric motor

Brushless DC motors also known as electronically commutated motors are electric motors powered by direct-current electricity and having electronic commutation systems, rather than mechanical commutators and brushes...

Motor controllers

The motor controller regulates the power to the motor, supplying either variable pulse width DC or variable frequency variable amplitude AC, depending on the motor type, DC or AC.

External links

Alternative Fueling Station Locator, charging stations (EERE).
Automotive DesignLine Europe, electric and hybrid vehicle design resource for engineers and engineering managers.
Zero Emission Workspace, electric vehicles in an off-grid commercial building project

Patents, Emil E. Keller, Electrically Propelled Perambulator, 1894, Hiram Percy Maxim

Hiram Percy Maxim

Hiram Percy Maxim was an American radio pioneer and inventor, and co-founder of the American Radio Relay League . He originally had the amateur call signs SNY, 1WH, 1ZM, 1AW, and later W1AW, which is now the ARRL Headquarters club station call sign...

, Motor vehicle, 1897, Hiram Percy Maxim

Hiram Percy Maxim

et al., Electric motor vehicle, 1904

Organizations

News

5 electric cars you can buy now (CNNMoney.com
CNNMoney.com
CNNMoney.com is the world's largest business website. The site is the online home of Fortune and Money, and serves as CNN.com's exclusive business site. The site, edited by Chris Peacock, together with the three titles, is part of the Fortune|Money Group, and attracts more than 10.8 million unique...

)
AeroVironment Awarded U.S. Patent For Electric Vehicle Energy Data Management And Control (Green Car Congress
Green Car Congress
Green Car Congress is a newsfeed website dedicated to provide the latest information and news about energy options, technologies, products, issues and policies related to sustainable mobility and access to its content is provided free of charge...

)
Solar charging station for Ford Focus Electric Vehicle

Studies

http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/Lee%20Lovellette%20Electric%20Vehicles%20DP%202011%20web.pdfWill Electric Cars Transform the U.S. Vehicle Market? Belfer Center
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is a permanent research center located within the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The center's current director is political scientist Graham T. Allison....

, Harvard University]

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

All-electric and hybrid electric vehicles

Vehicles

Electric bus

Thunder Sky

Valence

Free Tindo

First electric commercial bus

First Fast-Charge, Battery-Electric Transit Bus

Trucks

Semi-trailer trucks

Milk float

Garbage truck

Pickup trucks

Electric cars

Special purpose vehicles

Motors

Motor controllers

See also

External links