1. How feasible are Electric Vehicles for the future?
by Jeremy Horne, Ph.D.
Once again we find ourselves debating how electric vehicles (EV) can be a main
source of transportation in the world. The events putting us on that course have
been rather tortuous. In 1973 the world, in particular the U.S., was jolted into the
realization that its major supply of petroleum could be cut off, leaving dozens of
millions of vehicles idle on its roads. As the Arab oil embargo through the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) dragged on, the lines at gas
pumps grew longer until 17 March 1974 it ended [1]. At that time, there was much
discussion about alternative renewable energy, not only as a source of vehicle fuel
but for power production all across the infrastructure. There were major efforts to
bring forth solar and wind, in particular, but other forms of energy production using
geothermal, hydroelectric, and even very novel ideas like fuel cells. Not only was
there a heightened awareness of the fragility of petroleum supply but there were
rising concerns about the environment, in particular, pollution, land spoilage, and
global warming. The global warming issue has been around ever since the term was
coined 8 August 1975 in a science paper by Wally Broecker in Science entitled "Are
we on the brink of a pronounced global warming? [2]”. As the embargo crisis
receded, so did all the ideas of the need to conserve petroleum in the collective
social memory. Thirty years down the road, we face not so much the threat of an
embargo, but peak oil, where it has been found that we may have passed a point
where oil consumption surpasses the discovery of new sources [3]. Too, there are
greater environmental issues, made prominent after the Exxon Valdez incident in
1989 and more recently with the disastrous British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon
”oil gusher” incident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Middle Eastern wars over oil,
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2. highlighted the cost of extracting this fuel. As motor vehicles consume the greater
part of petroleum in the world, it stood to reason that there would be a search for
alternative sources of power, in light of the newly perceived need to address the
petroleum issue. Numerous ideas have arisen over the past decade about how to
fuel vehicles, some of those innovations involving fuel cells (refined development
occurring as a result of space programs), natural gas, and electric. Here, we focus
on electric powered vehicles, their problems and prospects [4].
Using electricity to drive cars is not a new idea, it originating as far back as 1828,
when Ányos Jedlik, a Hungarian inventor of a motor created a model of a vehicle
powered by it. A primitive electric carriage was made in the latter 1830s by
Scottish inventor Robert Anderson, but it took the development of rechargeable
batteries to bring forth EVs in Europe, staring in the mid 1800s. The U.S. had to
wait for its electric cars until William Morrison built a six passenger car in 1890.
From that point onward electric cars became popular, with Anthony Electric, Baker,
Columbia, Anderson, Edison, and Studebaker, among others being favorite brands.
Electric vehicle model by Ányos Jedlik [5]
In 1900, more cars on the road were electric than steam or gasoline. However, they
were for localized use only, as there were no recharge stations out in rural areas. In
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3. addition, because the batteries were lead-acid, the range was severely limited, and
the lifespan, because of the numerous recharges required, was not that long.
Improvements in the internal combustion engine (ICE) and mass production by
Henry Ford's automobile plants to drive down costs pretty much demolished the
electric car market.
German electric car, 1904, with a chauffeur on top [6]
Today, people are back on track in attempting to further the technology of EVs.
Mostly everyone is aware of the ubiquitous golf carts that pass by silently, and
these have served well, but the scale them upward to road use has not been easy.
How an EV works
Overall, the arrangement of components is rather simple and straight forward,
especially in comparison to an ICE car. An electric motor drives a car, just like it
does in clocks, washing machines, or knife sharpener. Three types of motors exist:
direct current (DC) brushless, alternating current (AC) induction, and permanent
magnet (PM). The first gives the highest speed, but the car accelerates more slowly.
The AC motor accelerates the vehicle faster but has only an average speed. The PM
motor is in between the DC and AC motors. The DC and PM motors can run directly
from the batteries, while the AC motor needs an inverter. Current passes from the
battery to a variable resistor actuated by the “gas” pedal then to a controller that
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4. regulates current to the motor. There can be just one motor propelling one or more
wheels, or each wheel can have its own motor.
Mitsubishi i-MiEV [7]
To help recharge the battery somewhat, there is regenerative braking, when the
inertia of the vehicle drives the generator part of the electric motor during
slowdown. For braking, itself, the vehicle load is used as a way of “backpedaling” to
slow down the vehicle. EVs don't need a standard or automatic transmission, but to
simulate driving in a regular car because of peoples' force of habit, various
arrangements for “shifting” have been invented. The shifting arm operates as a
switch that sends signals to the controller but has labels, such as “park”, “reverse”,
“drive” “neutral”, and “low” (PRNDL) as a transition device. The “park” and “neutral”
usually disengages the motor and activates a brake. Some cars allow the motor to
pull a bit to simulate the feel of an automatic transmission in ICE cars. In an ICE
car, the weight of the car helps slow it down, but an EV car will engage the
regenerative brake system to create the same effect. The “low” selection will
enhance this [8].
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5. Limitations of the EV
A sad little story emerged in 1990 of General Motors' attempt to literally kill electric
cars. In 1990 the California Air Resources Board made a ruling called the Zero-
emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate which said that in order to continue selling
gasoline vehicles in that state auto manufacturers had to sell electric vehicles, as
well. General Motors (GM), Toyota, Honda, Ford, Nissan, and Chrysler; produced
among them 5,000 EV1s. The oil industry and automobile manufactures were
enraged, and lobbied and filed lawsuits to have the mandate canceled. GM, perhaps
the most upset, recalled all its EV1s and proceeded to destroy them by crushing.
Some were donated to universities and museums after being disabled. GM selfishly
refused to allow owners to pay the lease value on 78 remaining ones, and they too
were crushed. One of their excuses was they didn't want to follow the U.S.
government mandate to keep spare parts for the EVs already deployed. Protesters,
accompanied by some actresses were arrested in protests to GM about the car's
destruction but their efforts were fruitless. GM claimed that no one really wanted
them, the driving range was too low (80-100 miles), and they were too expensive.
EV1s being taken off to the crusher [9]
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6. However, the EV1 were durable, clean running, and required no tune-ups or much
maintenance. To highlight the whole controversy and bring home the view that “big
oil” was behind the destruction, a movie was made about this incident, Who Killed
the Electric Car?
Want to learn more about current and future developments
in Electric Vehicles?
Visit our Download Center for more articles, whitepapers and interviews:
http://bit.ly/ev-articles
References (Subject is indicated by URL – accessed 14 October 2011)
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis#Chronology
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming
[3] http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5247
[4] http://avt.inl.gov/pdf/fsev/history.pdf
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_electric_vehicle
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_electric_vehicle
[7] http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/evtech.shtml
[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F
[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._Power_and_Associates
[11] http://businesscenter.jdpower.com/JDPAContent/CorpComm/pdfs/DriveGreen2020_102610.pdf
[12] Ibid., p. 2
[13] Ibid., p. 17
[14] Ibid., p. 64
[15] http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5247,
http://www.pennenergy.com/index/articles/display/0663918147/articles/pennenergy/microblogs/rafae
l-sandrea/natural-gas-supply--potential-setbacks.html,
http://ideas.repec.org/a/eap/articl/v39y2009i2p255-270.html ,
http://www.ourbusinessnews.com/natural-gas-supplies-within-5-year-average ,
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.postcarbon.org/reports/PCI-report-nat-gas-future-
plain.pdf&embedded=true&chrome=true , and http://environmentalheadlines.com/ct/2011/05/12/the-
truth-about-natural-gas-supply-costs-environmental-impact/ , as examples
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7. [16] http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/solar-roadway-that-generates-heat-energy-
unveiled/5335
[17] http://www.gizmag.com/harvesting-solar-heat-asphalt/16904/
[18] http://www.piezo.com/prodproto4EHkit.html, http://www.smart-material.com/Smart-
choice.php?from=MFC, http://www.advancedcerametrics.com/pages/contact/,
http://www.mide.com/products/qp/qp10ni.php, http://www.newenergytechnologiesinc.com/contact
[19] http://www.gizmag.com/google-invests-168-million-in-solar-power-tower/18383/ ], thermal
depolymerization [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWf9nYbm3ac&feature=related
[20] http://www.gizmag.com/enviromission-solar-tower-arizona-clean-energy-renewable/19287/
[21] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc%E2%80%93air_battery
[22] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_battery
[23] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc-bromine_flow_battery
[24] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanadium_redox_battery
Resources (Subject is indicated by URL – accessed 14 October 2011)
http://www.cleancaroptions.com/html/battery_electric_vehicles.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/evtech.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car
http://www.sweethaven02.com/ModElec/electrical01/Lesson0402.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_battery
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlI1duF4K9o
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyden_jar
Batteries for Electric Cars - http://www.bcg.com/documents/file36615.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_battery
http://www.energyharvesting.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piezoelectricity#Mathematical_description
http://inhabitat.com/new-crash-proof-electric-vehicle-battery-can-be-mass-produced/
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels/avta/light_duty/fsev/fsev_batteries.html
http://spinnovation.com/sn/Batteries/Batteries_and_Ultracapacitors_for_Electric_Hybrid_and_Fuel_Cell
_Vehicles.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_battery
http://www.bcg.com/documents/file36615.pdf” -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car
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8. http://www.iqpc.com/Event.aspx?id=473352
http://www.cleancaroptions.com/html/battery_electric_vehicles.html
http://www.howstuffworks.com/electric-car.htm Future Car series
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