How Do the All-Electric Cars Work?
What is an Electric Car? An electric car—or Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)—uses a battery to power an electric motor, which replaces the internal combustion engine used in conventional cars. The BEV’s battery requires an outside power source to be recharged. This distinguishes the BEV from hybrid cars, which still carry an internal combustion engine and mostly lack the option that enables outside recharging. Battery Design The main stumbling block in making electric cars viable has always been the battery. Most electric car models today use the lithium ion battery design. This is very similar to the batteries used in laptops and cellphones, although much larger and usually of a higher-quality design. These batteries provide enough power for the sort of low-speed car meant to be used in the city. Advantages of an Electric Car One advantage of an electric car is that it is a zero-emission vehicle (although its source of electric power through the power grid may be a source of polluta
