Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About An Electric Vehicle But Were Afraid To Ask

By Phoenix Xavier

This book details all the differences between an internal combustion engine vehicle & an electric vehicle. It explains in plain & simple English how engines work, where the fuels come from, what the difference is between different battery chemistries & the difference is between different electric motor types along with how an electric vehicle actually works.

 

With regard to electric cars & hybrids, what are the differences with the electric charging modes, the cables you need, the government grants & initiatives that are available & finally what sort of maintenance will be required with an electric vehicle.

 

All costs are explained along with emission zones & what governmental policies are currently in place & those which are planned. Although written primarily for the UK, Europe, North America & Asia have also been included to allow this book to be relevant globally.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Phoenix Xavier
• Release date: Sep 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9798215507551

Book preview

Chapter 1 – The motor vehicle

The reason you are reading this book is because either you have an interest in electric vehicles, considering purchasing an electric vehicle or wish to future proof your transport arrangements for the coming years as it is highly likely that traditional petrol/diesel vehicles will become outlawed.

Therefore, it would be advantageous to understand where these electric vehicles have come from & why. Also, it would be expedient to explore how these electric vehicles differ from traditional petrol/diesel vehicles & how they work. Clearly even with a basic level of comprehension on electric vehicles, this will enable the reader to cut through any misleading advertising &/or inappropriate sales advice at a dealership.

A brief history of the motor vehicle

The internal combustion engine is acknowledged to have been invented in 1861 in Germany by Nikolaus August Otto[1]. At that time Otto was enhancing an engine built in France by Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir which used a gas engine. Otto worked to develop it as a liquid fuel (petrol) engine & what he created became known as the Otto engine & the principles he developed in his engine (known as ‘four stroke’) are still used to this day in petrol engines.

The modern production car is acknowledged to have been invented in 1886 by Karl Benz[2], who patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagon[3]. This was given the German patent number 37435 on 29th January 1886 (as this was the date he first applied for the patent).  It is acknowledged to be the first as it was designed to generate & be propelled under its own power, not simply a motorised stage coach or horse carriage, & this is why Karl Benz was granted his patent & is now universally regarded as the inventor of the motor car.

Approximately 25 of those first Patent-Motorwagens were subsequently built between 1886 & 1893. They were each powered by his Benz 954 cc single-cylinder, four stroke engine which cranked out (500w) 2/3 horse power at 250 rpm when fitted to the rear of his three wheeled vehicle.

Benz later went on to develop & improve his Motorwagon. First with the model 2 which had a (1.1kw) 1.5 horse power engine, then again with the model 3, which boasted (1.5kw) 2 horse power engine, which gave the model 3 a top speed of 10mph (16kph).

Before the Motorwagen, Benz was designing & producing stationary engines & invented many components that are still used in modern vehicles. Ignition using a battery, spark plugs, carburettor, gear shift & the water filled radiator were all Benz’s own designs.

Following Benz’s trailblazing; Henry Ford in the USA developed the Model T for the American masses in 1908 under the company name of the Ford Motor Company & became famous for pioneering the production line.

Before Karl Benz & Henry Ford, the evolution of the car went through many stages.

In China in 1672 Ferdinand Verbiest built a steam powered vehicle, but it was not big enough to carry a human, but was said to be the first working steam powered vehicle. In France, 1769, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot created a steam powered vehicle that was capable of transporting humans. He called it a fardier à vapeur (steam dray) & he designed it as an experimental steam-driven artillery tractor. Then in 1784 in Redruth, UK, William Murdoch built a working model of a steam carriage. By 1801 in Camborne, UK, Richard Trevithick was running a full sized vehicle. Following this, several other steam powered vehicles were introduced onto the roads in the UK, but this caused such distress to the public that the UK government legislated in 1865 that all self propelled vehicles must have a man walking in front waving a red flag & blowing a horn so as to warn the public of the approaching vehicle. In 1896 this law was repealed.

In 1808 François Isaac de Rivaz created a vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine which was fuelled by hydrogen. In Prague in 1816, Josef Bozek built an oil-fired steam car.

By 1828, a Hugarian called Ányos Jedlik invented a basic electric motor then used it to power a small model vehicle. In Vermont USA in 1834, Thomas Davenport designed a DC electric motor & also used it in a small model vehicle. The following year in the Netherlands, Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of Groningen created a small scale electric vehicle. Then by 1838 Robert Davidson built an electric locomotive that could achieve 4mph.

In 1892, Rudolph Diesel had been granted a patent for his New Rational Combustion Engine. Then by 1897 he had created the first diesel engine.

It should be clear that the development of motor vehicles was widely dispersed, over a wide timescale & they used various power sources. This was due to the fact that the inventors utilised the power sources that they had to hand. Steam, electric & petrol vehicles were all competing head to head for dominance in this fast emerging market. It was not until the network of petrol filling stations was built until after 1910 when the Ford Model T became popular & so too was the need for petrol, that the petrol fuelled internal combustion engine achieved dominance over its competitors. Until then, petrol was only obtainable from chemist shops. When Karl Benz’s wife undertook the first production car long distance trip in 1888, she had to plan her journey to pass numerous chemist shops en-route just to source petrol.

Enhancements were then developed to the petrol fed internal combustion engine, the driveability & safety of the vehicle quickly followed. WWI was a particularly active time for innovation, but it was only during the oil crisis of 1973 when the focus started to move into other technologies.

Interestingly, since 1892, the diesel engine was being developed alongside petrol & now 20% of all passenger cars globally are diesel powered, with Europe having 47% of its passenger cars being diesel powered. The uptake of diesel powered vehicles is currently still increasing globally, most prominently in India, Japan & South Korea.

More recently, both the UK & the EEC governments have signed up to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, they have therefore announced that they intend to legislate to outlaw the sale of all new diesel & petrol vehicles by 2040[4]. This has predictably caused problems for car manufacturers, car mechanics & even members of the public who wish to purchase a new vehicle, as a credible replacement to the internal combustion engine does not yet exist.

The reason why petrol/diesel power has powered the worlds vehicles since Benz’s Motorwagon until now is simple. Petrol/diesel (any oil derived fuel) has more extractable energy per kilo than any other commonly available fuel source.

The simple graph in figure 1 demonstrates this simple fact while comparing it to various other power sources.

You should be aware of the cost of petrol or diesel at the forecourt if you drive a vehicle. At the time of writing this book, the cost on the UK for diesel is £1.22p per litre & petrol being £1.16p per litre. The equivalent amount of hydrogen currently costs £9.99p, therefore despite hydrogen containing three times more extractable mega joules per kilo making it more energy dense, it is currently 8.6 times more expensive than petrol, which does not allow it to be an economically viable alternative to petrochemical fuels.

Figure 1 Extractable energy from various fuels per kilo (P Xavier © 2019)

However, despite the low cost of petrol/diesel fuels & the thousands of gradual enhancements, developments to both the internal combustion engine & motor vehicles in general since Otto in 1861, the development focus has now shifted away from petrochemical powered vehicles, so once again there is a development race in the field of motor vehicles.

This time, the race is on to find a suitable replacement for the petrol/diesel engine, but until a credible replacement is found & any associated infrastructure built to support it, the majority of the vehicles on the road will remain to be either petrol or diesel powered. It will therefore be advantageous to understand exactly how these engines work, to understand & compare them to the emerging alternatives.

However, as steam/coal powered vehicles are not carbon neutral, it is unlikely that they will see a resurgence, therefore both those options can be omitted from this study.

How a petrol engine works – in a nutshell

At the heart of the petrol powered vehicle is the internal combustion engine. In the heart of that engine are cylinders. There could be 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 or even 12 cylinders, but typically there are 4, 6 or 8. Inside these cylinders is where aerated petrol is fed & this is where it is made to explode (internal combustion). These cylinders are sealed, but at the top they have a spark plug & two inlets (one to allow the aerated petrol in, the other to allow the exhaust gas out). These inlets can therefore be seen as gates. One in, one out & they operate in sequence. One gate opens to let in the aerated petrol. Then a spark from the spark plug then causes the aerated petrol to explode inside the cylinder. The second gate then opens & the hot gas is expelled out.

When the fuel is exploding inside the cylinder, the only direction it can travel is downwards, pushing a very tight fitting piston that is fitted inside the cylinder. The piston is therefore pushed downwards, to the bottom of the cylinder. That piston is attached to the crankshaft by a con-rod & therefore that downward movement is what ultimately moves the crankshaft which powers the vehicle as the downward movement is translated into torque.

This all operates in the same controlled sequence, in what is known as four strokes.

Stroke 1. Intake, as the piston is travelling down the cylinder, it creates a vacuum & this allows the air/petrol mixture to be introduced through the inward gate valve.

Stroke 2. Compression, the inlet valve closes & the piston then travels back up, compressing the air/petrol mixture (making it highly flammable) inside the cylinder. When the piston reaches the top of the cylinder the spark plug is fired to create a spark inside the chamber.

Stroke 3. Power, the aerated petrol then ignites & this mini explosion pushes the piston back down again, thus turning the crankshaft through the con-rod which connects them both.

Stroke 4. Exhaust, the outlet valve then opens & as the crankshaft continues to turn, it pushes the piston back up again & this action pushes the hot gas that remains after the explosion, out of the cylinder then down the exhaust. The cycle then repeats itself again & again.

The power from the engine is transmitted through the clutch & the gear box to the rear axle via a crank shaft. Because the rear axle moves up & down due to the suspension, there are splines fitted to the crank shaft that slide in & out of the gear box to compensate for any movement. Universal joints are also fitted on the crank shaft at each end to ensure that the power is delivered regardless to what angle the crank shaft happens to be at. The joint between the crank shaft & the rear axle is fitted with a differential. This then transmits the torque to the wheels via half shafts. The gears are controlled by the driver, as is the accelerator pedal. The accelerator pedal just lets more fuel & air into the engine, which results in greater power.

There is however one issue with the four stroke sequence. That is, power is only being provided on the 3rd stroke. To overcome this issue, four cylinders are generally used together & in sequence. Therefore if cylinder 1, is on stroke 1, cylinder 2 is on stroke 2, cylinder 3 is on stroke 3 & cylinder 4 is on stroke 4. Power is therefore provided on every stroke from one or other of the cylinders & there is therefore no loss of power.

If a simpler or more detailed explanation is required, there are numerous internet sites that give splendid explanations. Many of these sites also use diagrams & videos. A simple internet search will reveal thousands.

How a diesel engine works – in a nutshell

The modern diesel engine is also an internal combustion engine, but differs from the petrol engine slightly. They are also far simpler which means they are more robust & as a result tend to break down far less than a petrol engine.

Firstly, in the diesel engine, it is air that is drawn into the cylinder, not an air-fuel mixture like in the petrol engine. The air in the cylinder is then compressed to between 14 to 25 times its original volume (the petrol engine only compresses the air-fuel mixture about 10 times its original volume). Compressing any gas always results in an increase in temperature. In the diesel engine, the compressed air needs to achieve a temperature which is a minimum of 500 degrees Centigrade. There are glow plugs to aid this process, not spark plugs which are only found in petrol engines. The diesel fuel is then injected into the cylinder where it is ignited by the hot air. The resulting explosion then pushes the piston down just like it would in the petrol engine. When the piston returns up the cylinder, it expels the hot gas in the same method as in the petrol engine. That piston is attached to the crankshaft by a rod & therefore that downward movement is what ultimately moves the crankshaft. The glow plugs are only present to help warm the air when the engine is cold.

This all operates in the same controlled sequence, in what is known as four strokes.

Stroke 1, Intake, air is drawn into the cylinder through the intake valve as the cylinder is