ELECTRIC MOBILITY

Report
University of Greenwich at Medway, Thermodynamics
Aniket (000698975)
11/8/2012

ELECTRIC MOBILITY 2012

Content
Introduction
Aims and Objective
A Brief History
Electric Bicycle
Components and Functionality
Maintenance
Performance
Advantages and Disadvantages
Electric Vehicles
Types
Functionality and Working of
Battery Electric Vehicle
Hybrid Vehicle
Environmental Issues and Fuel Efficiency
Conclusions
By Means of Comparison of Electric Vehicles and Conventional Vehicles
References

ELECTRIC MOBILITY 2012

Introduction
Automotive industry is one of the fastest growing industry, vehicles today are way much
better than those we use to drive few years back in term of comfort, performance, fuel
efficiency etc. But after all this growth it is still facing few challenges, as most the vehicles
on road are conventional vehicles or in other words those vehicles which use crude oils or
fossil fuel. And because of use of large no. these fossil fuel driven vehicles we have degrade
our environment and natural resources to a great extent. So, its the demand of time for a
change, for adapting new and better technologies.
In Automotive industry if we talk of new technologies first thing comes as matter of fact is
low fuel efficiency of conventional fuels plus high emission of polluting gases, so todays
need is to find new technology that uses alternative fuel and to increase the fuel efficiency
without compromising with performance and cost factor. And best option discovered or we
can say best technology invented so far to tackle this problem is Electric Mobility. But
Electric vehicles are not much globalised yet and electric vehicle industry is still facing a
range of its own challenges. Technical challenges like performance, maintenance,
functionality, fuel efficiency, comfort, safety and environmental sustainability. And few
challenges concerning business aspects as well like globalisation, economy, marketing and
distribution, and product development etc. So, we are still facing a question, can electric
mobility tackle all these challenges and come as a prat of industry like conventional vehicles.
So, its just a small research of electric vehicles regarding all these challenges and its
working.

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Aims and Objectives

1. Technical Aspects
Functionality of electric vehicles as compare to fuel driven vehicles.
How it saves deprivation of limited natural resources, specifically fuel?

2. Business Aspects
Economic feasibility.

ELECTRIC MOBILITY 2012

A Brief History
An exact date of the beginning of electric vehicles is still uncertain. nyos Jedlik, Hungarian
inventor is design the first small scale model car powered by electric motor in 1828. Than
somewhere between 1832 and 1839 an engineer from Scotland designed electric powered
carriage and so on many new different model were designed by different inventors over the
years. But these first electric vehicles had a big disadvantage, non-rechargeable batteries, so
werent very popular initially.
By the end of 19th century with a mass production of rechargeable batteries electric vehicles
became fairly used. Electric Mobility first hit the public transport such as taxi and private
electric vehicles were very rare. It was an era when conventional vehicles were not very
advanced and if performance was needed electric vehicles were preferred. The first car to
exceed 60miles/hr was an electric car known as La Jamais Contente.

La Jamais Contente (fig. 1)

So, by the starting of 20th century electric cars were looked as strong contender of future
transport system. They proved to be more reliable rather than conventional vehicles of that
time. But with invention of self-starter IC engines in 1911 and availability of cheap oil in the
market conventional vehicle overtook the electric vehicles big time. Success of IC engine
over electric powered vehicle on that time can be understood by comparing their specific
energy. To match the IC engine and their specific energy electric vehicles need bigger
batteries proving it almost practically impossible for electric vehicles and batteries of that
time. So, as a result market for electric mobility declined. And by the end of 20th century
because of continuous research and depleting environment condition once again electric
vehicle are in the race.
(Ref. 1)

ELECTRIC MOBILITY 2012

Electric Bicycle
The most success full electric vehicle and strongest contender of todays IC engine derived
motor bikes, scooters and physically powered bicycles.

Electric Bicycle at University of

Greenwich at Medway (fig 2)

Components and their Functionality

They basic electric bicycle is not much different from a normal bicycle but have a few extra
components of which most important are:
Battery
Electric Motor
Throttle Mechanism or Controller
Few connecting wires

Components of Electric Bicycle (fig. 3)

ELECTRIC MOBILITY 2012

1. Battery: A portable battery as light as possible but with maximum power is used and
attached to the main frame of the cycle. Battery provides electric power to drive motor
and got a recharging mechanism so it can be recharged accordingly.
2. Electric Motor: It is attached to front or rear wheel hub of the cycle and help in
driving the bicycle by converting electric energy of battery into mechanical rotatory
energy.
3. Throttle Mechanism: There are basically two types of throttle mechanism used these
days:1) Power-assisted: It uses a torque sensor and based on how hard the user
peddling its adds power proportionally.
2) Power-on-demand: This mechanism is users demand base it got a throttle
like bikes on handle or buttons to draw power for battery to motor.
(Ref. 2)
Maintenance of Electric Bicycle
Its not very difficult to maintain an electric bike all a user is needed to keep a regular check
if battery is charged or it may give trouble during journey. It doesnt want to frequent serving
only once in a while in ok. Always check connection and connecting wire. And only problem
one can face over a time is battery leak. So, maintenance is cheap and easy.

Performance of Commercially Available Electric Bike

Average speed 12 mi/h 19 km/h
Maximum speed** 20 mi/h 32 km/h
Travel range 1050 mi 1680 km (Full charge)
Batteries charging time 26 h
Cycles of charge/discharge Up to 400
Power consumption 100500 Wh (Each full charge)
On-board power supply 1236 V
Weight: Electric bicycle kit 1050 lbs 4.622.8 kg excluding original bicycle weight
(Ref. 3)

ELECTRIC MOBILITY 2012

Advantages
1. Eco-friendly, almost zero emission except any toxic waste of battery when disposed
off.
2. Quite satisfactory results of performance if compared to normal conventional two
wheelers in terms of fuel efficiency.
3. Very low and cheap maintenance.
4. Impressive travel range.
5. Simple working mechanism.
6. Globally popular.

Disavantages
1. Weight of the bicycle, because motor and battery and very heavy parts with main
body.
2. Way more expensive than mechanically powered bicycle.
3. Low range of speed.

ELECTRIC MOBILITY 2012

Electric Vehicles

Types of Electric Vehicles

There are basically 4 types of electrical vehicles, namely:

Battery Electric Vehicles: This range of electric vehicles uses the basic battery and
motor mechanism to provide power and motion to the vehicle.
Hybrid Electric Vehicles: this range of electric vehicles uses a small electric battery
to supplement IC engine, which result in increased fuel-efficiency.
Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles: Its a dual fuel car it uses both the IC engine and
Electric motor to make car go. To increase the electric power used a large pack of
battery is plug into the power gird for charging.
Extended-Range Electric Vehicles: It also use IC engine but just to power the
electric generator that charges the battery and battery in turn provide electrical energy
to motor. Motor is the only component in these vehicles that rotate wheel and make
car go.
(Ref. 4)

ELECTRIC MOBILITY 2012

Functionality and Working
Of all the four type of Electric vehicles there are two most important types i.e., Battery
Electric Vehicles & Hybrid Electric Vehicles. So here, here is some researched data about
these two classes of electric vehicles.

Battery Electric Vehicles

This is the range of vehicles with no internal combustion engine, but the power comes for a
combination of portable electric battery and electric motor. It uses a rechargeable batteries
that can be recharged at home or specific recharging points.

Basic Assembly of Battery Electric Vehicle (fig. 4)

As fig. 4 shows how simple is the basic assembly of Battery Electric vehicles similarly its
working mechanism and functionality is also very simply and straight forward.
The vehicle consists of 3 main components, an electric battery for energy storage, an electric
motor, and a controller. The battery always has recharging mechanism directly by main
electricity. The controller is component which controls the power supplied to the motor by
the battery, and hence the vehicle moves, in forward and reverse direction.
(Ref. 5 and 6)

ELECTRIC MOBILITY 2012

Hybrid Electric Vehicles
This range of electric vehicles uses a combination of internal combustion engine and electric
motor kit to drive a vehicle assembly, thus increasing the fuel efficiency.

Hybrid Car Basic Assembly (fig. 6)

As fig. 6 show Hybrid cars assembly include both IC engine and electric motor and battery
kit. The main function of electric motor and battery is to provide a quick electric start to the
vehicle, which boosts the car ability to start and acceleration. Its a dual fuel drive system
using both engine and motor to drive the car. Normally electric motor takes the vehicle to a
certain minimum speed and then IC engine take over and kick it to higher speed.
It doesnt need any manual charging of battery, its regenerative braking and gasoline engine
which recharge the battery itself. Regenerative braking works when driver pushes the brake it
capture the kinetic energy to recharge the battery.

ELECTRIC MOBILITY 2012

Environmental Issues in Electric Vehicles and Fuel Efficiency
It is believed that Battery Electric Cars are emission free but its not a complete truth to rely
on. It is eco-friendly with no emission only if the batteries are recharged for renewable source
of electricity. On the other hand if we are using power station which use conventional
methods for producing electricity for recharging these batteries, then its not emission free.
As amount of electricity used to reach the batteries was produced by burning loads of fossil
fuels and which spread pollution. Data below will show the amount of average emission
because of electric vehicles.

(fig. 7)

Secondly to get energy in the car battery or to specific recharging point electricity travels
huge distances thus loses a considerable amount of energy as loss, thus reducing fuel
efficiency of electric vehicles. Data below will show the amount of loss it take on an average
to recharge batteries from conventional method of electricity production.

(fig. 8)
(Ref. 7)

ELECTRIC MOBILITY 2012

Economical Aspect of Electric Vehicles
When a customer buys a car, cost of car is the first thing that affects ones mind than other
expenses one might spend on car over the years. So when we are looking for economical
aspect of electric vehicles its not just the initial cost but several other thing has to be
considered like fuel efficiency as it depends on it how much user going to spend on fuel
afterwards. Then fuel cost, serving etc. Based on these we can compare which technology
Conventional or Electrical is more economical. Heres the data below:-

(fig. 9)
Data shows that Electrical Vehicle industry still needs some improvement and work upon
making it more economical. Not Just by reducing fuel cost but other things like cost of the
vehicle must be considered.

ELECTRIC MOBILITY 2012

Conclusions
By Means of Comparison of Electric Vehicles and Conventional Vehicles
Firstly in term of fuel efficiency
Electric vehicles have increased the fuel efficiency but not to a greater extent even
today if you want speed and best performance Hybrids are the option but those cars
as well are just 5 to 12% more efficient than conventional vehicles. And even in
battery electric vehicles efficiency reduces to 37% from 90% due to energy loss in
recharging batteries.
Environmental Aspect
NO direct emission but lots of indirect emission by power station for producing
electricity, so more renewable source of electricity must be used. But still less than
Convectional Vehicles.
Economically
Very high initial cost but low fuel cost makes it economical to use but if compared
on every aspect still not an economical option of private transport.

ELECTRIC MOBILITY 2012

Source & References
Source of Images and Figure Google Images. Except fig 2 capture by Aniket Singh at
University of Greenwich laboratory.
Other References
1 James Larminie (2003). Electric Vehicle Technology Explained. west sussex: John
Wiley & Sons Ltd,. p1-5.

2 - unknown. (2003). how an electric bike work. Available:

http://www.electricbikesexperts.co.uk/how-an-electric-bike-works.html. Last accessed
9th nov 2012.

3 unknown. (2007). electric bicycle. Available:

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/staff/am/journalpublications/04283505.pdf. Last
accessed 9th nov 2012.

4 - unknown. (2007). types of electrical vehicles. Available:

http://www.tva.com/environment/technology/car_vehicles.htm. Last accessed 9th nov
2012.

5 unknown. (2007). electrical vehicles batteries. Available:

http://www.thegreencarwebsite.co.uk/blog/index.php/electric-vehicle-batteries-a-guide/.
Last accessed 9th nov 2012.

6 - James Larminie (2003). Electric Vehicle Technology Explained. west sussex: John
Wiley & Sons Ltd,. p1-5. James Larminie (2003). Electric Vehicle Technology Explained.
west sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd,. P6-10

7- unknown. (2007). how green are the electric cars. Available:

http://www.esb.ie/electric-cars/environment-electric-cars/how-green-are-electriccars.jsp. Last accessed 9th nov 2012.