Electric vehicles are getting very popular nowadays for several reasons
- Zero carbon emission/ clean fuel category
- Cost-effective if used in long drives
- Noise-free/vibration-free
- Effective in flood-affected areas
An electric vehicle, as its name suggests, runs on electric energy that comes from an electric battery. It does not have an internal combustion engine like conventional vehicles.
Electric vehicles have a few main components
- Electric motor
- Battery pack
- Power electronics controller (controls the speed of the electric motor)
- DC/ DC converter (To convert high voltage to lower voltage for running equipment in the car)
- Thermal system for cooling
- Transmission system
- Protection circuits
- Different types of sensors
Electric vehicles started developing in the 19th century, but practical vehicles on roads came only after 2010.
Electric vehicles can broadly be classified into 3 categories
Battery electric vehicles: It has a battery pack and an electric motor. The battery pack runs the motor. It is a simple one.
Hybrid electric vehicles: It has both an engine and a motor with a battery pack. It runs on the engine and motor at the same time. The battery of the HEV is charged by the engine.
Plug-in hybrid vehicles: These vehicles have both an engine and a motor. But its battery could be charged from an external charging source.
Tesla is one of the most popular car brands and has the following car models.
- Tesla Model 3
- Tesla Model S
- Tesla Roadster
- Tesla Model X
- Tesla Model Y
The above models start from approx. $ 40000 (33.5 lakhs) for Model 3 to approx. $200000 (1.67 crores) for the roadster.
Electric vehicles have different types of sensors as follows
- Voltage sensors
- Temperature sensor
- Current sensor
- Position sensor
- Speed sensor
- Torque sensor
- Coolant temperature sensor
- Ambient temperature sensor, Ultrasonic sensor
- RADAR/ LiDAR sensor
- Accelerometers
- Gyroscopes, etc.
Even after this much advancement in recent years in the EV industry, a few limitations exist that are hindering its growth and the replacement of IC engine cars with EVs.
The limitation of EVs is discussed in detail in another blog with a link below.