Electric Vehicles
A vehicle powered
mainly by an electric motor drawing current from rechargeable batteries,
fuel cells, or other portable sources of electrical current.
Battery
Electric Vehicle (BEVs)
A
battery-electric vehicle is one which operates solely on the power
provided by a battery pack that is recharged by being plugged in to
the local power grid.
Lead-Acid batteries
are the most common battery in use in vehicles today. Others in use
and under development include: Nickel Metal Hydride, Lithium Iron
or Lithium Polymer, Sodium Sulfur, and Zinc and Aluminum Air batteries,
to name a few.
Hybrid Electric
Vehicles (HEVs)
A range
of hybrid configurations exists, however, briefly a hybrid is a
mixture of a battery electric vehicle with a conventional internal
combustion engine vehicle. In other words, a hybrid-electric vehicle
(HEV) is simply a battery EV with a built-in, on-board electrical-generation
device. Power to the wheels can either come from an electric motor
which is powered by energy stored in battieries on the vehicle,
or power to the wheels can come from the internal combustion engine
on the vehicle, or from a combination of both propulsion sources.
In a hybrid, the
internal combustion engine also powers an-board generator which produces
electricity. The electricity is then stored in the batteries for later
use by the electric motor when needed. HEVs offer the advantages of
a conventional internal combustion-engine vehicle (ICEV) in terms
of refuelling requirements. Where an HEV outperforms an ICEV is at
the pump, since the hybrid-electric system provides roughly a 20 to
50% improvement in fuel economy, depending on the exact format of
the hybrid, as compared to it's internal-combustion cousin. The fuel
cost of the hybrid is, however, higher than that of a battery EV.
Furthermore, it is more complex than a battery-powered vehicle.
Fuel Cell Vehicles
A fuel
cell-electric vehicle is a hybrid electric vehicle which runs on
electrical power generated by on-board fuel cells. In their simplest
form, fuel cells convert hydrogen into electricity through a chemical
process. This hydrogen can be obtained in a variety of ways, including
the conversion of today's common fuels such as gasoline, methanol,
or natural gas.
