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In an electric vehicle, when the driver applies the accelerator, the battery in the car supplies electricity to the stator, causing the rotor to turn, and subsequently provide mechanical energy to turn the car’s gears. Once the gears are rotating, the wheels turn too. All this happens in the blink of an eye, and without fossil fuel combustion!
AC or DC?
Alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) are two different types of electric flow. As their names would suggest, direct current is when the electric charge flows in only one direction, while alternating current periodically reverses direction.
Motors powered by direct current can be found in an electric vehicle, but only as small, mini motors used, for the windshield wipers and electric windows, for example, but not to drive the vehicle itself. For the traction of an electric vehicle, an alternative current motor is used.
asynchronous and synchronous:
There are two types of AC electric motor used to create traction for an electric vehicle: asynchronous (aka induction) and synchronous.
In an asynchronous, or induction, motor, the rotor is pulled into a spin, constantly trying to “catch up” with the rotating magnetic field created by the stator. This type of electric car motor is known for its high power output and is a common motor in vehicles.
In a synchronous motor, on the other hand, the rotor turns at the same speed as the magnetic field. This provides high torque at low speed, making it ideal for urban driving. Another advantage is its size: a synchronous electric car motor can be compact and low weight.
Don’t get confused between the alternating current electric car motor and the types of electric ; which can use either alternating or direct current depending on whether you are plugging directly into the grid, or using a specific type of charging station. While your electric car motor uses AC, the battery needs to receive its electricity in DC. A conversion from alternative to direct current, either onboard or outside the vehicle, is therefore required.
Power from the grid is always AC. This then passes through your electric vehicle’s onboard charger (imagine it as an AC to DC converter), which then sends the power to the battery. But the rapid charging stations you can find on the highway, parking lots and on city streets carry out the AC to DC conversion process themselves, meaning the energy for the battery arrives straight into the car as direct current. They are faster than AC electricity outlets, but take up much more space.
In an electric car, the electric motor is just one part of a larger unit called the powertrain. Here we also find the Power Electronic Controller (PEC), in charge of the electronics that control the motor’s power supply and battery charging, and the gear motor which adjusts the torque (turning force) and speed of rotation.
Constructing the different elements of an EV motor requires real expertise. At Renault, supervisor Tatiana Sueur explains that “To build a stator, for example, we had to find how to wind 2 kilometers of copper wire into little notches in sheet metal without damaging the insulating ceramic that covers them.”
Powertrain efficiency is constantly being improved, as we have seen at Renault with the technical innovations within ZOE’s powertrain unit, which leads to better all-round vehicle performance and the introduction of more features.
The life expectancy of an electric car motor depends on so many variables that it is difficult to estimate. In ideal conditions, it has been suggested that the optimal lifespan is between 15-20 years. Compared to a combustion engine, an electric car motor has fewer parts, meaning reduced and easier maintenance.
When it comes to an electric vehicle, power output involves the difference between the electricity delivered (input) and the “useful” mechanical energy that drives the motor (output), a ratio known as energy conversion efficiency. Heat and friction can cause some of this power to be lost along the way, meaning the motor doesn’t benefit from all of the electricity coming from the battery of the electric car.
The power output of an electric car depends on the volume of its motor and the wattage of the incoming current. ZOE, for example, generates an output of 100 kW with an improved torque of 245 Nm. With a WLTP* range of 395 kilometers thanks to a 52 kWh battery, New ZOE performs especially well when it comes to energy efficiency.
(*: The WLTP: Worldwide harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure)
Electric cars have been around a lot longer than today’s Tesla Motors or even the General Motors EV1 of the late 1990s. In fact, electric cars appeared long before the internal-combustion sort, and dreamers have never stopped trying to make them work both on the road and as a business proposition. A lack of historical perspective sometimes leads to misunderstandings of how things came to be as they are now, so let’s take the long view of the road that got us here.
Start in the 1830s, with Scotland’s Robert Anderson, whose motorized carriage was built sometime between 1832 and ’39. Batteries (galvanic cells) were not yet rechargeable, so it was more parlor trick (“Look! No horse nor ox, yet it moves!”) than a transportation device. Another Scot, Robert Davidson of Aberdeen, built a prototype electric locomotive in 1837. A bigger, better version, demonstrated in 1841, could go 1.5 miles at 4 mph towing six tons. Then it needed new batteries. This impressive performance so alarmed railway workers (who saw it as a threat to their jobs tending steam engines) that they destroyed Davidson’s devil machine, which he’d named Galvani.
Batteries that could be recharged came along in 1859, making the electric-car idea more viable. Around 1884, inventor Thomas Parker helped deploy electric-powered trams and built prototype electric cars in England. By 1890, a Scotland-born chemist living in Des Moines, Iowa, William Morrison, applied for a patent on the electric carriage he’d built perhaps as early as 1887. It appeared in a city parade in 1888, according to the Des Moines Register. With front-wheel drive, 4 horsepower, and a reported top speed of 20 mph, it had 24 battery cells that needed recharging every 50 miles. Morrison’s self-propelled carriage was a sensation at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, which was also known as the famed World’s Columbian Exhibition. Morrison himself was more interested in the batteries than in mobility, but he’d sparked the imagination of other inventors.
Electrobat to Columbia
Electrobat! Is that not a great name? It belongs to the first commercially viable EV effort. Philadelphians Pedro Salom and Henry G. Morris adapted technology from battery-electric street cars and boats and got a patent in 1894. At first very heavy and slow (like a trolley car, with steel “tires” and 1600 pounds of batteries onboard), their Electrobat [at left] evolved to employ pneumatic tires and lighter materials so that, by 1896, their rear-steer carriages used two 1.1-kW motors to move 25 miles at a top speed of 20 mph. Electrobats and another electric by Riker won a series of five-mile sprint races against gasoline Duryea automobiles in 1896.
Morris and Salom incorporated that year and moved on to the “cash-in” phase of a successful startup. Having built a few electric Hansom cabs [upper right] to compete with the horse-drawn vehicles then serving New York, they sold that idea to Issac L. Rice who incorporated the Electric Vehicle Company (EVC) in New Jersey. He in turn attracted big-money investors and partners and by the early 1900s, they had more than 600 electric cabs operating in New York with smaller fleets in Boston, Baltimore, and other eastern cities. In New York, the downtime it took to recharge batteries was addressed by converting an ice arena into a battery-swapping station where a cab could drive in, have its spent batteries replaced with a recharged set, and move on out. Brilliant, but like many a startup, it expanded too quickly, ran into unforeseen conflicts among investors and partners, and the whole taxi venture had collapsed by 1907.
EVC’s battery supplier (which was an investor and partner) became what we know today as Exide. Its manufacturing partner, Pope (also a gasoline-car pioneer), took the technology and applied a name from its thriving bicycle business, Columbia, to a run of cars for public sale. Columbia [bottom right] reached the 1000-units-built milestone well before those visionary mass-manufacturers in Detroit, Ransom Olds and Henry Ford, got up to speed.
Never Satisfied
Electric cars proved their mettle in early motorsports. Belgian Camille Jenatzy, a builder of electric carriages near Paris, engaged in several speed stunts to promote his firm’s engineering acumen, the highlight of which came in the spring of 1899. Driving his racing special, La Jamais Contente (“the Never Satisfied”), he became the first to break the 100-km/h and 60-mph barriers. A pair of direct-drive 25-kW motors, running at 200 volts drawing 124 amps each (about 67 horsepower), propelled the torpedo-shaped machine crafted from a lightweight aluminum alloy called partinium. La Jamais Contente ran on Michelin tires; the French tiremaker adopted a reproduction built in 1994 to serve as a sort of mascot for the company’s Challenge Bibendum series of sustainable mobility rallies from 2004–2014.
Names You Know
The late 19th and early 20th century simply bubbles with automotive invention all over the globe. The limited market for cars, still mostly expensive toys for rich folk, saw steam power dominant, electric cars next, and gasoline vehicles bringing up the rear. Some brand names still familiar today dabbled in electrics during this era.
Ransom Eli Olds built a short run of electric horseless carriages before devising the first mass-market Oldsmobile cars—the one known electric survivor [bottom right] is in a museum in Lansing, Michigan, which became home to Oldsmobile after a fire in Mr. Olds’s Detroit factory. He built no electrics in Lansing, but General Motors would . . . nearly 100 years later.
Another one-off museum piece is the Egger-Lohner C.2 Phaeton [top right] engineered by 23-year-old Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, whose son would found today’s Porsche company after World War II. The 1898 car’s electric-drive system weighed 286 pounds, made 5 horsepower, and could push the buggy to 22 mph. On spec, it doesn’t look more impressive than Morrison’s 1893 World’s Fair “car,” but it won a 25-mile race for electric vehicles at a Berlin exhibition on September 28, 1899.
And then there’s Studebaker, which had built wagons and carriages in the 19th century but entered the 20th as an electric-car manufacturer. That’s Thomas Edison aboard his own 1902 Studebaker Electric in the left photo. Edison and his camping buddy Henry Ford also tried their hand at an electric car and built at least one prototype before both decided that the gasoline engine had a more promising future. One factor was that electricity was not yet widely available outside city centers, severely limiting the market for cars tied to that infrastructure. Drivers could carry spare cans of gasoline for long journeys, but spare batteries were a lot heavier per unit of energy.
A New Century
President William McKinley was assassinated while touring the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901. He was rushed to the hospital via electric-powered ambulance, one quite similar to what’s seen in this photo, which has recently featured in the HBO/Cinemax television series The Knick, about a New York City hospital in 1900–1901. McKinley survived the gunshot but developed gangrene in the wound and died eight days later. The trip to the hospital wasn’t his first in a motor vehicle—he had become the first U.S. president to ride in a car when he took a demonstration ride in a Stanley Steamer. This distinction is often ascribed to Theodore Roosevelt, McKinley’s vice president and successor, because TR was the first to take a public ride in a car, a Columbia electric in 1902. McKinley’s electric ambulance ride alone should secure the Ohioan’s place in history as the first motorized president.
Roaring Twenties
It could go 25 mph with a range of 80 miles, but by the time this 1923 Detroit Electric was built (in, yes, Detroit), the writing was on the wall for the early electric business and this company in particular. The company started in 1907 and did well in competition against Baker and Milburn electric cars, even though those two companies were more innovative. Even as internal-combustion cars began to win the technology race, electric cars maintained a market particularly in the cities where their silent operation and ease-of-use appealed to many. Often, the drivers were women who didn’t want to hand-crank an engine to start it, so city shopping districts had charging stations to attract these affluent customers.
The Ford Model T, though, was far more affordable and kept getting cheaper—the first Model T cost $850 in 1908, when most electric cars were at least twice that expensive. The Model T price was under $300 by 1923 and many electrics were 10 times as costly. In the mid-1910s, a Detroit Electric upgrade battery pack (with Edison’s nickel-iron cells) cost $600 all by itself. This didn’t matter much to wealthy folks like Clara Ford, wife of Henry, who found her husband’s product dirty and noisy and instead drove a succession of Detroit Electrics from 1908 to 1914.
Ironically enough, it was an electric motor that became the real enemy of battery-powered cars and helped overcome Clara’s objections: The advent of the electric starter (invented by Charles Kettering at Dayton Engineering, first for the 1912 Cadillac) did away with the hand-crank problem for gas cars once it spread through the industry. Electrics got a bit of a boost during World War I when gasoline prices rose and fuel availability was sometimes spotty, but by the mid-1920s, Detroit Electric’s “new” cars were often constructed on bodies that had been built years earlier and unsold. All the same, it built more than 35,000 vehicles between 1907 and 1939.
Deliveries and Taxis
Gasoline won the technology battle before World War II, and most electric-car makers had either converted to internal combustion or gone out of business. But EVs still had their strengths, especially for the low-speed, short-range uses typical of urban centers. Britain maintained a fleet of electric “milk floats” for home delivery into the 1980s and beyond, while in postwar Japan gasoline was scarce and expensive. The government encouraged production of electric cars, and this 1947 Tama resides in the Nissan museum today (the Tama company became Prince, which became Datsun/Nissan). It could do about 20 mph with a range of 40 miles on lead-acid batteries, good enough for taxi duty just as electric cars had done in New York 50 years earlier.
A Serious Attempt
The old-car experts are looking at this photo and saying, “Isn’t that a Renault Dauphine?” Yes, it is, but no, it isn’t at all, it’s a Henney Kilowatt. Interest in electric cars never really disappeared, and this was one result of people thinking it should work. Henney, a custom coachworks that produced hearses, ambulances, and limousines, often for Packard, was casting around for more diversified business when Packard was dying. Henney acquired Eureka Williams in 1953 and then became part of a conglomerate (National Union Electric Co.) that included Emerson radio and Exide batteries. Put a battery company and a coachworks under one roof and what’s more natural than to give electric-car production a shot?
Consulting with Caltech scientists and engineers to help develop a speed controller and drive system, Henney’s first Kilowatt for 1959 had a 36-volt system and could go 40 miles at up to 40 mph. This was upgraded to 72 volts for 1960, raising speed to a more practical 60 mph and range to 60 miles. Henney built the bodies using tooling and parts purchased from Renault—these weren’t converted French cars but, rather, nearly identical U.S.-built chassis. The speed controller, employing diodes and relays, was pretty advanced for the time.
What Henney didn’t have was a good distribution, sales, and dealer system. It built about 100 chassis, but only 47 completed cars were sold. The promoted price was $3600 (a Dauphine listed for $1645) but it appears that was a profitless target. Sales mostly went to utility-company fleets. A handful survive in collections today.
Electrovair II
General Motors kept experimenting with electric cars, and this 1966 Electrovair II was one result. The earlier Electrovair of 1964 was also Corvair-based but found to be wanting, so they did it over for ’66.
Exotic silver-zinc batteries gave it 532 volts to feed into a 115-hp AC induction drive motor. This latter was a big deal, making as much power as the Corvair’s flat-six in some configurations, so performance was said to be similar. This battery pack in the nose surely redistributed the car’s weight; the total was 800 pounds heavier than the standard Corvair. Top speed was 80 mph and range 40 to 80 miles, but the real killer from a marketing standpoint was that the batteries could survive only 100 recharge cycles and the pack cost $160,000. That’s not a projection of what it’d cost now—it’s what it cost in 1966. So there’s only one, and GM’s still got it.
Nadermobile?
In 1965, Ralph Nader testified before a U.S. Senate committee and complained that electric cars were viable, that he knew General Electric could produce a car that would go 200 miles on a charge at up to 80 mph. He suggested GE was in cahoots with the auto and oil industries to hide this technology.
In 1967, GE showed us what it could do: The Delta experimental electric car was repulsively ugly, but it could achieve 55 mph and had 40 miles of range using nickel-iron batteries. The same year, Ford showed an experimental electric car with even more expensive nickel-cadmium batteries that could do no better. Everyone agreed that what was needed was a battery technology “breakthrough” to improve everything—cost, recharge-cycle time, capacity, durability, range, and tolerance for hot and cold weather.
Applying Rocket Science
When NASA contracted Boeing to produce a “car” for use on the moon, electric was the obvious choice for an airless environment. General Motors’ Delco division was a major subcontractor for the drive-control system and the motors on the Lunar Roving Vehicle. There were four DC motors, one in each wheel, making one-quarter horsepower apiece and capable of up to 10,000 rpm.
Four LRVs were built at a cost of $38 million, an overrun of 100 percent on the original $19 million projection. Driven nine times (three excursions on each of three missions), it was the most exotic “car” ever. First deployed on the Apollo 15 mission in 1971 (as shown here), the LRV used non-rechargeable silver-zinc potassium hydroxide batteries with a stated capacity of 121 amp-hours. Steering at both axles also was by electric motor drawing on the same batteries. Built of aluminum tubes and foldable in the center to stow onboard the Apollo lunar lander, it weighed 460 pounds (in Earth’s gravity) without passengers, whose space suits had to be redesigned so they could sit in it.
The LRV could go 8 mph in theory, but the lunar surface demanded more cautious speed. On Apollo 15, it moved about 17 miles over 3 hours, averaging less than 6 mph. On Apollo 17, the last lunar mission, the LRV traveled about 22 miles total and the astronauts got nearly 5 miles away from their landing module.
Oil Shock!
That these cars actually found a market is what stopped us from calling the earlier GE Delta “unsellable” despite its ugly-osity. When OPEC imposed an oil embargo in 1973 and per-barrel prices quadrupled to $12 overnight, electric cars started looking like a better idea. The nightmare for car enthusiasts was the threat that we’d all soon be driving something like the vehicles that came from Sebring-Vanguard of Sebring, Florida, starting in 1974.
Truly a glorified golf cart, the 1974 Citicar [left] had two doors, two seats, a 2.5-horsepower DC motor from GE, and 36 volts worth of lead-acid batteries. Top speed: about 25 mph. It got “better” in later model years, with a 48-volt pack that could move a Citicar to nearly 40 mph. Range was said to be 40 miles. Sebring-Vanguard built some 2300 of these cheesy wedges through 1977, after which founder Robert G. Beaumont sold to Commuter Vehicles, Inc., which rebadged it as the Comuta-Car and slightly updated it to comply with federal bumper and safety standards.
The Comuta-Car [top right] had batteries in its bumpers and a 6-hp motor. The most capable was built to meet a government contract for postal delivery—featuring right-hand drive with a sliding door [bottom right], it got a 12-hp motor, a 72-volt battery pack, and a transmission (with three speeds).
All told, the Sebring-Vanguard and Commuter Vehicles companies produced 4444 units, making it the largest electric-car producer in America since the end of World War II, a distinction it would maintain until 2013.
Still Thinking…
As unlovable as a Chevrolet Chevette was in 1977, GM researchers decided to see what it could do if converted to electric propulsion. The Electrovette was supposed to have had the latest nickel-zinc batteries, but the prototypes used standard lead-acid. These were installed in place of the rear seat.
At 30 mph, it could go as far as 50 miles, but the newer batteries were supposed to double that range. What were they thinking? Some GM internal economists were projecting gas prices could go to $2.50/gallon by 1980 (that’d be about $7.25 now). They tested the Electrovette for three years, but when gas prices didn’t get that high even during the 1979 round-two OPEC oil crisis, the car got shelved.
A Moonshot
In answer to a California mandate effective in 1996 that automakers sell a small percentage of vehicles that made no emissions (only electrics met the standard), General Motors didn’t go down the Electrovair/Electrovette trail of converting an existing model. While other automakers did just that, making the likes of the Toyota RAV4 EV, GM shot for the moon, applying all the technology it could bring to bear with aims of establishing industry leadership with the Impact concept car.
The production version, the GM EV1, had all the latest tech except for relying on lead-acid batteries to keep costs within reason after splurging on alloy this and magnesium that, an induction-charging system, and seriously advanced electronics to manage the efficient AC motor. A lot went into the inverter, which managed changing DC battery power to AC for the motor to use and AC back to DC to recharge batteries in regeneration mode.
To maximize performance, EV1 was a tiny two-seater, but it launched into a marketplace surging on giant SUVs. Aside from true believers, people did not embrace it. About 800 were leased in Los Angeles, Tucson, and Phoenix between 1996 and 2003 (the last cars were built in 1999).
Adding a nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) battery option that delivered the 70-to-160-mile range promised for the lead-acid version didn’t fix the facts that, A) the EV1 was a NASA-scale money pit for a company that subsequent events suggest could have better spent its resources on its core products, B) the California “mandate” was lifted in response to intensive lobbying from automakers including GM but also, C) many others who were devoting no resources to encourage consumers to embrace electric cars. GM took a big hit on public image when it refused to sell the cars to the leaseholders and crushed most of them (somehow, Francis Ford Coppola held onto his), but the technological experience was brought to bear on current models like the extended-range EV Chevrolet Volt and the fully electric Bolt.
Missing Link
Alan Cocconi founded AC Propulsion in San Dimas, California, in 1992. He provided GM with much of the electric-related genius that made the Impact concept and subsequent EV1 work properly, including contributions to its inverter.
In 1997, AC Propulsion revealed the tzero seen here, with 150 kW (201 horsepower) and lead-acid batteries (Johnson Controls Optima Yellow Tops). The body and chassis were basically the pre-existing Piontek Sportech fiberglass kit car. Lithium-ion cells were just becoming available (thanks in large part to consumer electronics and investment from both governments and industry into basic battery research in this era), and eventual Tesla Motors co-founder Martin Eberhard commissioned a tzero using these instead. Lighter and more energy-dense, they produced an eye-opening zero-to-60-mph time of a claimed 3.7 seconds. Hey, these things could be fun! Not cheap, being estimated at $220,000, but so what?
When Cocconi and partner Tom Gage resisted putting the car into production, Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning incorporated Tesla Motors in 2003. Borrowing the lithium-ion tzero as a demonstrator, they pitched Silicon Valley venture capitalists on their idea. Details of their accounts differ (and became the subject of a lawsuit), but one potential investor approached was Elon Musk, who first tried to get AC Propulsion to go into production of tzeros, just as Eberhard had. Instead, Gage and AC Propulsion opted to do electric conversions on the Scion xB (they called it the eBox) and pursue contract work, like helping electrify the Mini. So Musk wound up pouring his money into Tesla Motors and Eberhard’s idea gained momentum. The rest is becoming electric-car history, but just remember that you can draw a line from EV1 to Tesla—and that the line goes through San Dimas.
A Little Bird
The Corbin Sparrow does not get to 60 mph in less than four seconds. Mike Corbin made his fame and fortune as a motorcycle-seat manufacturer. The half-car/half-bike he introduced in 1999 under the name Corbin Sparrow could do 70 mph, tops, and had a range of about 40 miles. It’s more of a commuter-oriented third-car thingy—imagine a Citicar you could maybe actually use to get places, sometimes—than anything Tesla has done, but also much less successful.
Corbin Motors sold fewer than 300 electric Sparrows before it went into Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2003, but the idea won’t die. Its intellectual property has passed through several subsequent owners, the most recent of which is a British Columbia–based outfit called ElectraMeccanica Vehicles promising an upgraded, lithium-ion-battery version by 2017. Hold onto your bike seat, this ride may not be over yet.
Cue British Accent
Tesla Motors entered production in 2008 with the Roadster, the first generation of which could be fairly described as an AC Propulsion tzero with the kit-car bits replaced by one-grade-above-kit-car Lotus Elise components. Later models (like the 2011 Roadster 2.5 shown here) use proprietary drivetrain technology developed at Tesla, but the first run depended on licensed AC Propulsion power system and reductive charging systems.
First to put lithium-ion batteries in a production car and the first to demonstrate a 200-mile driving range (although not if you drove it as hard as you might an Elise), the Roadster used three-phase, four-pole AC induction motors. These gradually got stronger as the production run continued through 2012. Selling more than 2400 units over four years, despite a price of $109,000 in 2010 (the middle model year), Tesla finally got enough people to start thinking of electrics as attractive alternatives and replaced the Citicar as the image the general public brought to mind in response to the words battery, electric, and car.
Getting the Idea
Cars like this Smart Fortwo Electric Drive are how the world’s big automakers largely still think about electrics and fulfilling their need to produce zero-emissions vehicles: Take a car you’ve already engineered, convert it to electric power, and call it a day. That’s not necessarily dumb. The market is still limited and the cost of clean-sheet car design is still high while fuel prices remain stubbornly affordable. Tesla impresses everyone but has yet to show an operating profit for its auto sales.
So we get the likes of the Smart, and the Chevy Spark EV (which is a lot more fun than the gas version), and lots of halfway-there plug-in hybrids. Lithium-ion cells like those found in this Smart have come down a long way in price—they’re about one-quarter what they cost when the tzero was built. They take a fast charge and, supposedly, endure, but it’d take another round of improvement on charging times, more cost reduction, and higher energy density to really go head-to-head with the efficiency, cost, convenience, and performance of today’s internal-combustion cars.
Taking a Turn
Nissan is one of a few major automakers making its battery-powered EV on a dedicated platform. The Leaf comes to market as a 2011 model with a 24-kWh lithium-ion battery pack under the seats, and the revised-for-2016 version can be ordered with a 30-kWh pack in the same space. Built in Japan, the U.S., and Great Britain, it’s sold worldwide and fully capable of highway speeds, although only the later model can be relied upon to do 100 miles between charges. Nevertheless, the Leaf becomes the best-selling full-use electric in history with total sales surpassing 300,000 units in January 2018. Some 115,000 of those went to the United States—most built in Smyrna, Tennessee—and that’s even prior to introduction of its second-generation model. Others may perform better, look better, and do a better song and dance, but the Leaf already has earned its place as the EV that makes EVs seem as normal as they did in 1901.
No Rose-Strewn Path
History being written by the victors, we often forget that failure is far more common among startup ventures. This is particularly so in the auto industry, where the list of not-quite-spectacular EV ideas has of late included Coda, Aptera, and Venture Vehicles. A recent case study in the way high-profile, promising initiatives can evaporate into so much dream dust was Better Place.
The dreamer was Shai Agassi, who founded Better Place in 2009. More than $850 million invested in Better Place was barely enough for its ambitions to endure through 2013 when it went belly up, but it got far along the road with backing from the nations of Israel (where it was headquartered) and Denmark, a partnership with Renault that resulted in a car built with a battery pack to suit its standards (the Fluence Z.E. shown here), and an outside-the-proverbial-box business plan that relied on the notion of a standardized battery pack that could be swapped out rather than recharged onboard (shades of the early 1900s and those New York cabs).
Agassi excelled in selling the idea, but also in offending other automakers, whose willingness to build EV battery packs to a standard that could be quickly yanked out and reinstalled was a necessary element of the long-range plan. Better Place’s battery-swap recharging stations popped up at roadsides, ready to service cars that, um, few were buying. Oops. All told, there supposedly were fewer than 1500 Renault Fluences sold. At least the battery-car industry now has its own modern flameout stories to rank with such notable adventures as those of Tucker, DeLorean, and Bricklin.
Making History Happen
Introduced in 2012, it makes our 10Best Cars lists for 2015 and 2016. It’s both a large luxury car and a performance car with an available, aptly named Ludicrous Mode. At 4600 to 5000 pounds packed with 70 to 90 kWh of lithium-ion cells, the Tesla Model S is its own kind of moonshot with an entirely different take on what that means than did the GM EV1. There’s even an optional Autopilot system that goes most of the way toward autonomous driving ability.
Thirteen years since its incorporation and eight orbits of the sun since introducing its first production car, in those terms, Tesla has outlasted nearly every other new startup auto company since Porsche and Ferrari and Lamborghini were born after WWII. It has 20 years of battery and electronics development beyond EV1 to draw upon with its latest products. But range anxiety and the need for careful trip planning around recharge locations are still issues for this electric car, as has been cost (the base price is $71,200 and goes way up from there).
The Model S, despite its price disadvantage, outsells the Leaf nearly every month. It’s a halo car for the entire class, and credit goes to Elon Musk for making it happen, even if his mouth sometimes speaks as loudly as the big money he spends. Next on the docket for Tesla: the Model X crossover and the more affordable Model 3 sedan.
Back in the Mainstream?
The 2017 Chevrolet Bolt delivers more than 200 miles of driving range on a single charge for an out-of-pocket purchase price that falls below the average for all new-car sales. General Motors draws on its experience with the EV1 and the Volt plug-in hybrid to load the Bolt with a liquid-cooled, 60.0-kWh lithium-ion battery pack and an electric motor strong enough to silence those “golf cart” jokers. A Bolt runs from zero to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds in our testing, and it’s EPA rated to a 238-mile range, which we verify as attainable. It’s also no joke as a useful daily driver and a potential direct substitute for an internal-combustion equivalent. How good is it? Car and Driver puts it on our 10Best Cars list for 2017. And then Chevy says it’s going a step beyond to begin testing Bolts that can drive themselves.
Tesla Chases Sales Volume
Having been beaten to the affordable long-range EV market by Chevrolet, of all companies (see: the Bolt), Tesla finally releases its Model 3 in late 2017. Although it is promised that the 3 will be mass produced in sizable numbers, early production woes initially hold that rosy future at bay.
The Original Mainstream EV Is Back
In 2018, Nissan launches its second-generation Leaf. Packing a larger 40.0-kWh battery pack good for an EPA estimated 151 miles of range, the new Leaf improves mightily on its predecessor’s 29.9-kWh battery and 107 miles of range. Oh, and the 2018 Leaf looks massively less dorky while also incorporating Nissan’s latest active-safety technologies. The base price is lower than before in a bid to maintain buyer interest in the face of ever-more-affordable (but still pricier), longer-range EVs such as the Chevrolet Bolt and Tesla Model 3.
Electric Legitness
Plug It In, Plug It In.
Today’s Generation of Electric Vehicles
Today’s electric vehicle technology can really be broken down into four technologies:
• Hybrid electric vehicle
• Battery electric vehicle (BEV)
• Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV)
• Extended-range electric vehicle (EREV).
Taken together, BEVs, PHEVs and EREVs are all considered plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) because they all must be plugged into the electric grid in order to fully recharge their traction battery packs. Hybrid electric vehicles s are not considered a PEV because they cannot be plugged into the electric grid to recharge the traction battery pack.
Hybrid Electric Vehicle Features
• Gasoline fueled only
• Onboard traction energy storage in the form of
gasoline and electricity
• All energy originates from gasoline
• Battery recovers braking energy and it is charged
by the internal combustion engine powered by the onboard generator
• Electric motor normally provides propulsion assistance and sometimes all-electric propulsion at low
speeds
• Also includes start-stop hybrids, also called “mild” hybrids with no electric propulsion.
BEV Features
• Sometimes also referred to as an all-electric vehicle
• Only electricity fueled
• Electricity is the only onboard energy source
• Must be plugged into the electric grid to recharge.
PHEV Features
• Gasoline and electricity fueled
• Gasoline engine may not be used when the battery is above a certain state-of-charge, or is used in a blended mode when both the electric traction motor and internal combustion engine provide propulsion power at the same time.
• When the battery is nearly empty, a PHEV operates
like a typical hybrid electric vehicle.
EREV Features
• Is fueled similar to a PHEV in that it is fueled with both gasoline and electricity from the grid
• The main difference between an EREV and a PHEV is that the EREV control system keeps the car operating only on electric propulsion until the traction battery is discharged to a certain level
• After the battery is discharged to a certain level, the gasoline engine turns on and the vehicle operates similar to a hybrid electric vehicle
• EREVs are sometimes considered a PHEV and not a separate technology.
Motor vehicles account for 34 percent of nitrogen dioxide released into the atmosphere. They also account for 51 percent of the carbon monoxide, 10 percent of the particulate and 33 percent of the carbon dioxide. Nitrogen dioxide is a cause of acid rain and increases the growth of algae. Particulate, also called soot, causes haze and pollutes ground water. Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas capable of causing death in large doses and headaches, loss of breath and nausea is smaller doses. Carbon dioxide is a major contributor to global warming.
Cars pollute water sources in a variety of ways. One is through runoff of automotive fluids, brake dust, deicing chemicals and oil. Another is through leaking pumps at gas stations. Improper disposal of motor oil is also a cause of ground water contamination.
The environmental impact of cars does not end once a car stops being driven. More than 10 million cars are scrapped each year. About 25 percent of these cars are not recycled and end up in landfills. Several hundred million tires are also scrapped each year.
With hundreds of millions of cars on the road, they take up more than 13,000 square miles of land, more than the state of Massachusetts. Another approximately 4,000 square miles are covered with urban roads.
Cars also use up a large percentage of available fossil fuels. Light trucks and cars account for 43 percent of petroleum burned each year.
They account for much of the noise in major cities.
Electric cars are entirely charged by the electricity you provide, meaning you don’t need to buy any gas ever again. Driving fuel-based cars can burn a hole in your pocket as prices of fuel have gone all-time high.
The average American pays about 15 cents a mile to drive a gas-powered vehicle, whereas many electric cars run on five cents a mile. Electricity is largely less expensive than gasoline.
If most people charge their cars in the garage installing a few solar panels, that price can get cut even further, offering savings on powering your entire home. With electric cars, this cost of $2000 – $4000 on gas each year can be avoided.
The electric vehicle is easy to recharge, and the best part is you will no longer need to run to the fuel station to recharge your car before hitting the road! Even a normal household socket could be used for charging an electric car.
These cars can be fuelled for very low prices, and many new cars will offer great incentives for you to get money back from the government for going green. Electric cars can also be a great way to save money in your own life.
The biggest advantage of an electric vehicle is its green credential. Electric cars are 100 percent eco-friendly as they run on electrically powered engines.
It does not emit toxic gases or smoke in the environment as it runs on a clean energy source. They are even better than hybrid cars as hybrids running on gas produce emissions. You’ll be contributing to a healthy and green climate.
EV’s are growing in popularity. It is nearly three times as efficient as cars with an internal combustion engine, according to Wikipedia. With popularity comes all new types of cars being put on the market that are unique, providing you with a wealth of choices moving forward.
Electric cars undergo the same fitness and testing procedures test as other fuel-powered cars. An electric car is safer to use, given their lower center of gravity, which makes them much more stable on the road in case of a collision.
In case an accident occurs, one can expect airbags to open up and electricity supply to cut from the battery. This can prevent you and other passengers in the car from serious injuries. They are even less likely to explode in the absence of any combustible fuel or gas.
Earlier, owning an electric car would cost a bomb. But with more technological advancements, both cost and maintenance have gone down.
The mass production of batteries and available tax incentives further brought down the cost, thus, making it much more cost-effective. Consult a tax specialist to learn more about any tax credits that might be available to you on the state or federal level.
Electric cars run on electrically powered engines, and hence there is no need to lubricate the engines, anything related to the combustion engine or a ton of maintenance tasks that are usually associated with a gas engine.
Other expensive engine work is a thing of the past. Therefore, the maintenance cost of these cars has come down. You don’t need to send it to the service station often as you do for a standard gasoline-powered car.
Electric cars put a curb on noise pollution as they are much quieter. Electric motors are capable of providing smooth drive with higher acceleration over longer distances. Many owners of electric cars have reported positive savings of up to tens of thousands of dollars a year.
Batteries are an integral part of an electric vehicle. Most electric vehicle batteries are lithium ones, and their costs are improving every year.
The full capacity of a lithium-ion battery cell should be good for 300 to 500 cycles. A good battery could last you up to ten years. With the improving technologies, the cost of these batteries is expected to come down even more.
In the world of automobiles, electric cars have the simplest driving method. Commercial electric cars come with a transmission comprising of only one really long gear and also don’t suffer from the stalling problem as petrol cars do.
This effectively eliminates the need to add a clutch mechanism to prevent that from happening. Therefore, you can operate an electric car with just the accelerator pedal, brake pedal and steering wheel.
-Another really useful feature is regenerative braking. In normal cars, the braking process is a total wastage of kinetic energy that gets released as frictional heat. However, in an electric vehicle, the same energy is used to charge the batteries.
Considering the demand for oil will only be going up as the supplies run out, an electric car will most likely be the normal mode of transportation in the coming future.
From the days of horse and carriage to the bullet trains and airplanes of today, people have always come up with creative ways to get from point A to point B. Unfortunately, the transportation industry has often been notoriously inefficient when it comes to energy consumption. With threats like global warming, it can be easy to give up hope that we’ll be able to course-correct. Luckily, there is a silver lining — technology companies of all backgrounds are working to make even the least environmentally-friendly industry more sustainable, and the transportation sector is no exception.
Take a look at this list of 30 electric car companies that are helping us increase our mobility while reducing our energy footprint.
ELECTRIC CAR COMPANIES TO KNOW
World’s Top Leading Companies Dealing with Electric Vehicles:
Tesla was founded in 2003, it designs and manufactures electric cars, battery energy storage, solar roof tiles & panels. The main goal of tesla is to make its products affordable & accessible to more & more people, and ultimately accelerate clean energy production and clean transport. Its mission is the acceleration of the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Tesla cars are manufactured in the Tesla factories located in Fremont, California and Gigafactory Shanghai.
Base Specs of the models offered by tesla are:
COMPANY DETAILS
ADDRESS: Tesla Headquarters 3500 Deer Creek Road Palo Alto, CA 94304
CEO: Elon Musk
CFO: Zachary Kirkhorn
FOUNDERS: Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning
WEBSITE: www.tesla.com
CONTACT NO: +1(781)5754238
EMAIL: DPO@tesla.com
The electric segment of BMW is sub-branded as BMW I, it was founded in the year 2011 to produce plug-in electric vehicles. The company produces electric motors at the Competence Centre for E-Drive Production in Dingolfing and at the BMW Group Plant Landshut. In 2013, BMW launched two electric vehicles – the BMW i3 and the BMW i8. In 2016, BMW introduced “iPerformance” i.e., all plug-in hybrid BMW’S were given the iPerformance model designation, with an aim to indicate the transfer of technology from “BMW I” to the “BMW” core brand, BMW also shares its ‘i’ technology with Mini Cooper.
The base specs of the models offered by BMW i are:
COMPANY DETAILS
ADDRESS: Petuelring 130, 80809 Munich
CEO: Oliver Zipse
CFO: Arlindo Teixeira
FOUNDERS: Karl Rapp, Gustav Otto, Camillo, Castiglioni & Franz Josef Popp
WEBSITE: www.bmw.com
CONTACT NO: +4989382-0
EMAIL: customer.information@bmw.co.uk
Mercedes Benz started its electric vehicle division in the year 2018, the sub brand was called as the Mercedes Benz EQ. It is a series of battery electric vehicles manufactured by Mercedes Benz, all new electric vehicle design and production of the Mercedes fleet will target the EQ family. The EQ models are manufactured in the Mercedes plant in Sindelfingen, Germany. The two other Mercedes Benz car plants – Bremen & Rastatt also play a key role for electric mobility in the global production network.
The range of EQ models released from Mercedes are:
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: Daimler AG Corporate Headquarters, Mercedes Strabe 12070372, Stuttgart, Germany
CEO: Ola Kallenius
CFO: Harald Wilhelm
FOUNDERS: Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach & Emil Jellinek
WEBSITE: www.mercedes-benz.com
CONTACT NO: +49711170
EMAIL: Cs.ind@cax.mercedes-benz.com
The electric division of the Audi range is called as the e-Tron, it is a series of electric and hybrid cars by Audi. The first e-Tron to be built with the Audi DNA was an electric SUV. In 2012, Audi unveiled plug-in hybrid vehicles, the Audi A3 Sportback e-Tron was the first plug-in hybrid vehicle launched by Audi.
Audi introduced the R8 e-Tron in 2015, it was a limited production electric vehicle sports car. In 2018, Audi launched the SUV ‘e-Tron’, with a range of 204 miles and a 95kWh battery. In 2019, Audi launched the Q2L e-Tron, it is an all-electric version of the long-wheelbase variant of the subcompact SUV Audi Q2. Audi launched the e-Tron Sportback in 2020, it is an all-electric coupe SUV and has an EPA range of 218miles.
In 2021, Audi introduced the A6 e-Tron, e-Tron GT and Q4 e-Tron. The A6 e-Tron is expected to be built on the PPE platform and is going to be developed with Porsche. The e-Tron GT is a four door all electric grand tourer, built on the same platform as the Porsche Taycan. The Q4 e-Tron is a four door all electric crossover SUV and the Q4 Sportback e-Tron a four door all electric coupe crossover. Both these cars are based on the Volkswagen’s MEB platform.
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: AUDI AG, Ettinger Straße 70, 85057 Ingolstadt
CEO: Markus Duesmann
CFO: Juergen Rittersberger
FOUNDER: August Horch
WEBSITE: www.audi.com
CONTACT NO: +49 (0)841 89-0
EMAIL: Imprint@audi.de
Porsche launched its all-electric car – the Taycan in 2019, it is the first electric car introduced by the German automobile manufacturer. The Porsche first series production electric car was sold in several variants with different performance levels, they are:
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS:
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG Porscheplatz 1, D-70435 Stuttgart
CEO: Oliver Blume
CFO: Thierry Kartochian
FOUNDER: Ferdinand Porsche
WEBSITE: www.porsche.com
CONTACT NO: (+49) 0711 911-0
EMAIL: info@porsche.de
Waymo LLC is an American autonomous driving technology development company, it is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google. Waymo began as a google self-driving car project in 2009, its mission is to make it safe and easy for people & things to get where they’re going. From moving people to goods Waymo is taking autonomous driving to new places.
Waymo develops driving technology for use in the other vehicles, including delivery vans and class-8 tractors- trailers for delivery and logistics – called the “Waymo Via” – Autonomous trucking and local delivery solutions. It operates a commercial self-driving taxi service in the Arizona area called the “Waymo One” – the world’s first autonomous ride- hailing service. Waymo has partnerships with multiple vehicle manufacturers including Daimler AG, Nissan Renault, Stellantis, Jaguar Land Rover & Volvo, to integrate Waymo’s technology.
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, California 94043, Unites States
CEO: Dmitri Dolgov & Tekedra Mawakana
CFO: Ger Dwyer
FOUNDERS: Sebastian Thrun & Anthony Levandowski
WEBSITE: www.waymo.com
CONTACT NO: (650) 253-0000
EMAIL: press@waymo.com
Ztractor – the world’s first autonomous electric tractor, is a developer of autonomous and electric vehicles; their aim is to modernize farming and provide tools to increase the yield. They develop Autonomous Electric Tractors (AETs) – with the aim to increase farming efficiency, productivity, safety and reduce the production cost and the environmental footprint. These electric vehicles are built for use in the agricultural sector, they are equipped with sensors, cameras & GPS systems, these features help in processing the environmental data and improve the crop conditions
The range includes 3 models they are:
COMPANY DETAILS
ADDRESS: 470 Ramona St., Palo Alto, CA 94301
CEO: Bakur Kvezereli
FOUNDER: Bakur Kvezereli
WEBSITE: www.ztractor.com
CONTACT NO: (650)-704-1518
EMAIL: info@ztractor.com
Lucid motors is an American electric vehicle manufacturer owned by the Lucid Group,Inc. It was founded in 2017 with the intent to develop all electric- high performance luxury vehicles, its aim to combine sustainability with luxury by developing smart electric vehicles and create sustainable mobility without compromise in cars that are liberating & intuitive. The Lucid electric vehicles are capable of 0-60miles/hour in less than 2.5 seconds and are loaded with features like smart ecosystem, voice control, mobile connectivity, and cutting-edge GPS technology.
Lucid Motors- ‘AIR’ range includes 5 models:
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: Lucid Motors USA Inc. 7373 Gateway Boulevard Newark, CA 94560 USA
CEO: Peter Rawlinson
CFO: Sherry House
FOUNDERS: Sheaupyng Lin, Bernard Tse, Sam Weng
WEBSITE: www.lucidmotors.com
CONTACT NO: +1 (844) 367-7787
EMAIL: Ceo@lucidmotors.com
RAD is a manufacturer of electric bicycles, founded in 2007 by Mike Radenbaugh, it is the largest electric bike company in the United States with a footprint across 30 countries around the world. It aims to combine efficiency with comfort to attain sustainable transportation. Rad’s mission is to offer an unrivaled customer experience with radical electric bikes built for everything and priced for everyone. Its vision is a world where transportation is energy efficient, accessible and enjoyable to all. In 2015, rad power bikes launched its first electric bike model the “RadRover”. It is the biggest e-bike brand in North America.
Rad offers bikes for off-roading, city transit & utility purposes, the range includes: a) RadRunner Plus, b) RadRover 6 Plus, c) RadRover 6 Plus Step-Thru, d) RadRoverMini Electric Fat Bike Version 4, e) RadRover Mini Step-Thru Electric Fat Bike Version 2, f) RadRunner Electric Utility Bike, g) RadRover Electric Fat Bike Version 5, h) RadRover Step-Thru Electric Fat Bike Version 1, i) RadCity Step-Thru Electric Commuter Bike Version 3, j) RadCity Electric Commuter Bike Version 4, k) RadMisson Electric Metro Bike, l) RadWagon 4.
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: 1128 NW 52nd St. Seattle, Washington, United States
CEO: Mike Radenbaugh
CFO: Mark Klebanoff
FOUNDER: Mike Radenbaugh
WEBSITE: www.radpowerbikes.com
CONTACT NO: (800) 939-0310
Revel is a Brooklyn based transportation company founded in 2018, which is electrifying cities through charging electric infrastructure and shared electric vehicles. It is a ride sharing company that operates a fleet of electric vehicles and scooters in Austin, Miami, Brooklyn, Newyork, Boroughs, Washington D.C, Florida, & California Bay Area.
The Revel e-bike is available on monthly rental subscription of $99, it has a range of 45 miles and a top speed of 20mph. Revel mopeds are manufactured by a Chinese company – NIU, they are powered by 2 lithium-ion batteries and have a range of 60 miles with a top speed of 30mph. Through the Revel app users can rent electric mopeds, e-bikes, hail electric car rides and find fast charging stations.
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: 12 Cypress Avenue, Brooklyn, Newyork
CEO: Frank Reig
CFO: Jeffrey Johnson
FOUNDERS: Frank Reig & Paul Suhey
WEBSITE: www.gorevel.com
CONTACT NO: 347-350-5620
EMAIL: contact@reveltransit.com
Autowatts was founded in 2013, it offers trusted and verified tools and information that help configure, combine and sell electric vehicles and photovoltaic solar power production systems. It combines the best of electric vehicle technology and solar technology to develop photovoltaic electric cars in order to make transportation sustainable and more energy efficient. It develops sales software packages which help in simplifying the process of selling for the dealers of electric vehicles and photovoltaic solar power production systems.
The sophisticated, proprietary modelling engine of the autowatts utilizes user entered data, public and private data bases and other third-party resources to generate reports, comparisons, recommendations, analysis and sales support. The autowatts sizes a pv array to match the driving habits and electric vehicle preference, arranges financing to beat the fuel costs. The photovoltaic panels produce efficient & clean electricity.
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: 100 FILLMORE ST, SUITE 500, DENVER, CO 80206
CEO: Michael Nieling
FOUNDERS: Michael Nieling & Alex Tiller
WEBSITE: www.autowatts.com
CONTACT NO: (303) 517-6608
Forth was founded in 2011, it is an innovator in smart and electric vehicle technology, its mission is to accelerate the use of smart transportation to move goods and people in cleaner, equitable and efficient manner. It manufactures all electric and hybrid electric vehicles, available for both personal and ride sharing usage. It provides customers with information on pricing and rebate options by collecting data and specifications on vehicle range, horsepower and other specifications online.
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: 2035 NW Front Ave, Suite 101, Portland, OR 97209
CEO: Tim Miller
WEBSITE: www.forthmobility.org
CONTACT NO: 503.724.8670
E-tuk was founded in 2013, it is a three-wheeled electric vehicle, they are 100% electric and fully street legal and US DOT compliant. E-tuk USA designs unique three-wheeled electric tuk-tuk’s which are primarily built for shuttling, leisure, personal use, promotion/marketing/advertising and mobile food vending. They are all electric and fun and provide passengers a fun, eco-friendly & efficient ride.
The E-tuk is available in 3 models:
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: 3885 Forest St Denver, Colorado, US
CEO: Walid Mourtada
FOUNDERS: Michael Fox, Colin Sommer & Walid Mourtada
WEBSITE: www.etukusa.com
CONTACT NO: 720.543.0123
EMAIL: hello@etukusa.com
Levy electric manufactures lightweight electric scooters, it offers a range of scooters based on skill-level and are integrated with long range batteries and cruise control. These electric scooters are lightweight, sleek, modern & portable. The levy battery system is designed to provide ultimate flexibility, it is the first electric scooter with a swappable battery, .i.e a second battery can be kept charged and used whenever needed.
The Levy has 3 variants:
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: Greater New York Area, East Coast, Northeastern US
CEO: Eric levenseller
FOUNDER: Eric Levenseller
WEBSITE: www.levyelectric.com
CONTACT NO: (917) 409-7081
EMAIL: support@levyelectric.com
Open motors was founded in 2013, it is a b2b company which develops a complete electric vehicle called the EDIT. It is backed by a Y combinator and is based in Silicon Valley and Beijing. Edit is a strategic EV, which is engineered, and cost optimized for Maas providers that has the lowest cost of infrastructure for swapping and charging stations and the lowest cost of ownership.
Open provides advanced solutions for energy and mobility, its mission is to accelerate ‘Maas’ transition to first profitability at scale with an open and sustainable approach. The hardware upgradeability for most advanced self-driving, connected cars and batteries gives every vehicle a lifespan of 10 times over other cars. Open motors take a completely different approach towards electric vehicle development, it offers exists car manufacturers a platform on which they can create, design and model their own electric vehicles. By this a lot of car manufacturers save a lot of money on R&D costs, it also helps emerging start-ups with a database for creating their own individual products.
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: Palo Alto, California, United States
CEO: Tin Hang Liu
COO: Yuki Liu
FOUNDERS: Tin Hang Liu & Yuki Liu
WEBSITE: www.openmotors.co
EMAIL: info@openmotors.co
Proterra was founded in 2004, it is an American energy storage & automotive company which designs and manufactures electric transit buses and electric charging systems. It aims to make public transportation more fuel efficient and sustainable, by helping the government and corporate organizations to move away from fossil fuel and towards electric power without compromising efficiency. Proterra has commercial as well as mass transit vehicles in its product portfolio, its catalyst includes transit buses ranging from 11m-12m with various battery configurations. The buses are charged by an overhead charging station placed at maintenance facilities and route terminals.
The range of electric vehicles offered by Proterra are – a) Thomas school bus, b) Van hool coach bus, c) FCCC delivery truck, d) Optimal shuttle bus, e) Bustech transit bus, f) Komatsu Excavator, g) Volta delivery truck, h) Lighting commercial van, i) Proterra transit – ZX5 Electric Bus.
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: 1815 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010
CEO: Jack Allen
COO: John Walsh
CFO: Amy ARD
FOUNDERS: Dale Hill & Ryan Popple
WEBSITE: www.proterra.com
CONTACT NO: 864-438-0000
EMAIL: Sales@Proterra.com
MG Motor is a British automotive company owned by SAIC motor, it develops and markets cars sold under the MG marque and is the largest importer of Chinese made cars in the UK. MG Motors has created a lot of buzz with its MG ZS electric car in India, the MG-ZS offers ARAI certified range of 340kms, torque of 353Nm and max power of 142.7ps.
The range of electric vehicles offered by MG Motor are:
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: Westar House, 139-151 Marylebone Road London, NW1 5QE
OWNER: SAIC Motor
FOUNDERS: Cecil Kimber
WEBSITE: www.mg.co.uk
CONTACT NO: 02045 029775
EMAIL: fleet@mg.co.uk.
Uber Technologies Inc was founded in 2009, it is an American technology company. Their services include ride-hailing, food delivery, couriers, freight transportation, package delivery and electric bicycle-motorized scooter rental. Uber green help cities, by moving people with rides in electric cars, including hybrid electric cars, all battery electric cars and plug-in hybrid vehicles and plans to have 3000 electric vehicles in its fleet in India by the end of 2021.
Uber has partnered with original equipment manufacturers, EV infrastructure firms for battery swapping and charging, fleets and financers to make electric vehicles more accessible and affordable. Uber has also partnered with green technology services startups like lithium – to deploy over 1000 ECs across the Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, it has also partnered with micro-mobility start-up Yulu, Mahindra and Sun mobility for battery swapping in order to enable seamless transition to EV.
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: 1455 Market Street Suite 400, San Francisco, CA 94103 USA
CEO: Dara Khosrowshahi
CFO: Nelson Chai
FOUNDERS: Travis Kalanick, Garrett Camp
WEBSITE: www.uber.com
CONTACT NO: (800) 593-7069
EMAIL: support@uber.com
Hyundai was founded in 1967, it is a South Korean multinational Automotive manufacturer. In 2018, Hyundai launched the electric version of the Kona called as the Kona Electric, in 2019 Kona EV lite version was launched in India. The first electric car launched by Hyundai was the Ioniq, the Hyundai electric fleet also includes the Santa-Fe plug-in hybrid, Santa-fe hybrid, Tucson hybrid, Tucson plug-in hybrid and the nexo.
The Hyundai Ioniq is available in four variants- ioniq plug-in hybrid, ioniq electric, ioniq hybrid and the ioniq 5, Hyundai has also teased the 2021 ioniq-7. The Kona EV is available in two variants – one with a 39.2kwh battery and one with a 64kwh battery, it has a range of 415km, torque of 40.27Nm and power output of 136ps. Hyundai has also launched the Encino EV in the Chinese market, it has a range of 500km, power output of 201hp and is powered by a 64.2kWh.
The Jaguar I Pace is a battery electric crossover SUV by JaguarLandRover (JLR), it is the British subsidiary of the Indian company TATA, under their “Jaguar Marque”. In 2018, JLR launched its first electric car – the I Pace, it is an all-electric vehicle (BEV), the all-electric powertrains provide high performance with zero emissions. The I Pace is powered by a pair of electric motor with a battery that is recharged by regenerating braking and plug in charge point.
The Jaguar I-Pace has a range of 292 miles, acceleration of 0-60mph in 4.5seconds and a power output of 400ps, it is available in two variants – I-Pace and I-Pace Black -both the variants have a seating capacity of 5. JLR has also introduced the Jaguar F-Pace and E-Pace Plug-in hybrids (PHEV), these vehicles can switch seamlessly between an electric motor and a petrol engine. The Jaguar plug-in Hybrid delivers the best of both technologies.
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: Abbey Road Whitley, Coventry, West Midlands Cv43 4LF, G
CEO: Thierry Bollore
CFO: Adrian Mardell
FOUNDERS: William Lyons & William Walmsley
WEBSITE: www.jaguar.com
CONTACT NO: +44 (0) 192 664 1111
EMAIL: jlricm@jaguarlandrover.in
Rimac was founded in 2009, it is a Croatian car manufacturer that develops & produces electric sports cars, hyper cars, drivetrains and battery systems. Its goal is to make the best electric sports car. The Rimac cars are developed around the powertrain and battery pack, it has a complete electric drivetrain and has a range of 320 miles.
Rimac’s first car was the ‘e-M3’, it was a converted 84-BMW M3, it was the fastest accelerating vehicle according to the stock FIA rules. Rimac’s first electric car was the ‘Concept One’, it was the world’s fastest production electric vehicle and in 2018, Rimac launched its second electric car the ‘Nevera’. Rimac not only manufactures high performance electric vehicles under its own brand but also produces battery packs, vehicles and drivetrain systems for other companies, the Volar-E is a car developed by Rimac for Applus+ IDIADA electric company.
COMPANY DETAILS:
ADDRESS: Ljubljanska ul. 7, 10431, Sveta Nedelja
CEO: Mate Rimac
CFO: Biljana Veselinović
FOUNDER: Mate Rimac
WEBSITE: www.rimac-automobili.com
CONTACT NO: +38515634592
EMAIL: info@rimac-automobili.com
It is very important to say that no car will ever be 100 % clean. The arrival of the electric car does not change that. What we are saying is that if you really need to use a car, an electric car is the better choice for the environment. However, using public transport or simply walking or cycling to work will always be much better for the environment. A car is still a car; replacing one with another type is not going to solve transport problems like congestion.
Electric motors are simply more efficient than combustion engines, so more of the energy put in the battery ends up being used to drive the car. Especially when driving in cities, electric vehicles waste less energy. Also, there are simply no tailpipe emissions of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and particles. We still get particles from braking and from tyre wear, but overall there is less than from a petrol or diesel car. Electric vehicles can also bring down noise, especially at lower speeds they are less noisy than conventional cars.
Health-wise, the main benefit is related to air quality. You will still have some air pollution from the electricity that goes into electric cars but this typically comes from power stations which might have better pollution controls than you could implement in a conventional car and are usually located further away from densely populated areas.
source: renaultgroup– blog.evbox– avt.inl.gov– caranddriver.com– conserve-energy-future.com– itstillruns.com– builtin.com– origiin.com– eea.europa.eu
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