Has it finally come? Is the future now? We’ve got jetpacks, hoverboards, holograms
– all the things we only used to see in old sci-fi movies! (Well maybe not the jetpacks so much…) And now: electric cars you plug into the wall
like a cellphone! So who came up with the idea, and how does
the technology really work? Before we rejoice in the future, let’s first
take a trip to the past… Oh, we’ll be going a lot further back than
you think. You’ll probably be as surprised as I was
to find out that electric cars aren’t a 21st-century invention. That is, electric-powered motors came out
pretty much at the same time as petroleum-driven engines (that is, the ones that run on fossil
fuels like gas and diesel). Almost two centuries ago, in 1828, a Hungarian
engineer named Ányos Jedlik invented the first prototype of the electric motor and
used it to power a small model car. And he wasn’t the only one with an interest
in that sort of technology. In 1834, blacksmith Thomas Davenport created
a similar device that could be driven at short distances using an electric track. Does that ring any bells? (Think streetcars later on!) And over in the Netherlands, university professor
Sibrandus Stratingh built a tiny electric car powered with non-rechargeable batteries. Now, even though the idea of a battery-powered
vehicle was to revolutionize people’s lives for the better, primary cell batteries (that’s
the “use once and toss” kind) weren’t the way to go for obvious reasons. They needed too many batteries to run the
motor over long distances at such low speeds. It wasn’t until 1859 when French physicist
Gaston Plante invented the lead acid battery that changed the electric engine game for
good. Many countries began producing electric three-wheeled
cars until the US made a huge breakthrough. In 1891, they created the first electric vehicle,
and get this: it was a 6-passenger wagon that could go up to 14 miles per hour. (Hey, that was major back then!) After that, people were thrilled, and the
electric car market thrived. In the late 1890s, electric-powered taxis
filled the streets of London. At that time, electric cars had many advantages
over steam-powered and gas-guzzling engines. They didn’t vibrate, they didn’t give
off that awful burning gasoline smell that we’re all familiar with, and, most importantly,
they didn’t require much effort to start. By the early 1900s, almost one-third of cars
in the US were electric-powered. But that wasn’t going to last long… By the late 1920s, infrastructure in the US
had improved significantly, and vehicles needed to go further more efficiently. So, fossil-fuel cars took the lead because
they got the job done. You see, the top speed that electric cars
could achieve was 15-20 miles per hour. That’s about how fast you can go pedaling
on your bike! Another problem was that electric-powered
engines back then could only travel 30-40 miles on one go, which means they’d need
charging every couple of hours. And things were about to take a turn for the
worse along with the improvement in infrastructure. That’s when the electric starter was invented,
and gasoline cars began using it alongside mufflers, which made their noise a lot more
tolerable. Electric cars took their final hit in 1910
when Henry Ford began his mass production of gas-powered vehicles, which made them ridiculously
cheap whereas electric cars cost a lot more. Companies then realized that there was no
room for electric automobiles on the market, so they stopped producing them altogether. Fast-forward to the 21st century. We now have advancements in technology and
a greater concern for the environment. Add a fear of running out of resources to
fuel our vehicles, and it’s no wonder automotive companies have decided to give electric cars
another chance. The main difference between electric and fossil-fueled
cars is that the E-cars can use a variety of renewable sources to generate their electricity. In fact, the science behind the electric car
is surprisingly simple. Its basic principle is the alternating current,
for which we have Nikola Tesla to thank more than a century ago. Before you understand the science behind that,
let’s back up and first cover the differences between direct and alternating currents (that’s
DC and AC for short…or AC/DC if you’re into hard rock!). An electric current is the movement of an
electric charge that carries electrons. An engine, for example, can be powered by
direct current – which means that the electrons flow in one direction only. For most things that run on DC, that’s from
the battery to whatever it’s powering. The electrons that move along an alternating
current, on the other hand, periodically and consistently change direction. It’s pretty much all the electric power
in your home, from your microwave to your game console. In short, if you could look at the two types
of currents on a graph, direct would be a flat line and alternating would have regular
uniform waves going up and down. Or, to put it even more simply, DC would be
like water running out of a bucket with a hole in the bottom. AC would be kind of like watching the water
swishing around back and forth if you open the lid of your washer and look inside. Ok enough of that, so what about electric
cars specifically? Well, most of them convert the direct current
electricity from the batteries into an alternating current. Since electric cars don’t have an internal
combustion engine like gas-powered vehicles do, they use their space quite differently. You’d normally expect a big bulky battery
to be in the front under the hood, but it’s completely different in electric cars. They have 7,000 lithium-ion batteries that
sit under the flooring! This battery pack has a longer lifespan and
a higher power density – which makes them ideal for powering a vehicle. But one of their vulnerabilities is overheating
and thermal breakdown. That’s why electric cars have coolant running
between them to prevent overheating. And there’s all kinds of interesting stuff
at the back of the car. That’s where you’ll find the inverter,
which is what converts that DC into AC and gives power to the engine. But it can’t do that without the induction
motor. It’s also in the back, and it takes the
alternating current that just came from the inverter and creates a rotating magnetic field
that causes the motor to turn. Now, electric cars don’t have a gearbox
or lever, and all of them are automatic. They have a single speed transmission that
sends power from the induction motor to the wheels. This is how the electric motor transforms
electrical energy into mechanical energy. That is, the physical power that turns the
wheels and sends you on your way! But here’s where it gets even more interesting. When you accelerate while driving, the car
uses more energy. But when you brake, the energy is transformed
into electricity through the induction motor. Then, that electricity travels all the way
back to the battery pack and is stored so that you can use it later! Now that’s efficient! An electric car gets “juiced up” by being
plugged into an outlet or a charging station, and they use three main levels of charging. The first level is the basic charging you
can do at home – it uses an outlet of 120 Volts and adds 2-5 miles of charging per hour. Then, there’s the second level – it uses
Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment and has a higher voltage (220-240 Volts) to add 10-25
miles per hour of charging. Finally, the third and most efficient one
is the Direct Current charging station which does exactly what it says. It uses direct current to add up to 80% of
the car’s battery charge in less than half an hour. The cost of charging an electric car is dirt
cheap as well. It’ll cost you less than $5 to fully charge
your electric vehicle at home, and you can get up to 150 miles on one charge. That, of course, depends on the size of the
battery. Bigger electric cars with bigger batteries
can cost up to $15 to fully charge, but they can cover up to 300 miles. So, where do I sign? Now, electric cars are less expensive to run
and maintain if we compare them to fuel-powered vehicles, but there’s no denying that the
car itself comes with a much higher price tag. But still, according to a recent study, the
average operating cost of an electric car is $485 a year, whereas a fossil-fuel automobile
is $1,117. So, that higher initial price should pay itself
off over time. But there’s still another problem. One of the most expensive components of the
electric car is its battery pack. It’ll cost you an arm and a leg to replace
if it breaks down – expect anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 for replacement! But most electric car manufacturers give the
battery at least an 8-year warranty for up to 100,000 miles if that makes you feel any
better about purchasing. The good news is that we’re seeing a huge
movement toward electric-powered vehicles as a strategy to tackle fuel emissions and
reduce pollution. The head of automotive research in Europe
predicts that by 2025, all cars in Europe will be totally electric or at least hybrid. And many countries are setting goals to lower
their fuel emissions in the next few years. So, who knows? Perhaps sooner than later, we’ll all be
zipping around in electric cars, and gas guzzlers really will be a thing of the past! What about you – are you interested in getting
an electric car? Let me know down in the comments! If you learned something new today, then give
this video a like and share it with a friend. But – hey! – don’t go buy your Tesla
just yet! We have over 2,000 cool videos for you to
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