Cars - Battery electric vehicle

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	Cars - Battery electric vehicle

Battery electric vehicles or BEVs are electric vehicles whose main energy storage is in the chemical energy of batteries. BEVs are the most common form of what is defined by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) as zero emission (ZEV) passenger automobiles, because they produce no emissions while being driven. The electrical energy carried onboard a BEV to power the motors is obtained from a variety of battery chemistries arranged into battery packs. For additional range genset trailers or pusher trailers are sometimes used, forming a type of hybrid vehicle. Batteries used in electric vehicles include "flooded" lead-acid, absorbed glass mat, NiCd, nickel metal hydride, Li-ion, Li-poly and zinc-air batteries.

While hybrid vehicles apply many of the technical advances first developed for BEVs, they are not considered BEVs. Of interest to BEV developers, however, is the fact that hybrid vehicles are advancing the state of the art (in cost/performance ratios) of batteries, electric motors, chargers, and motor controllers, which may bode well for the future of both pure electric vehicles and the so called "plug-in hybrid".

History

BEVs were among the earliest automobiles, and before the preeminence of light, powerful internal combustion engines, electric automobiles held many vehicle land speed and distance records in the early 1900s. Most notable was perhaps breaking of the 105.88 km/h (65.79 mph) speed barrier by Camille Jenatzy on 29.4 1899 in his rocket-like EV named La Jamais Contente. This was the first world record over 100 km/h.

BEVs were produced by Anthony Electric, Baker Electric, Detroit Electric, and others and at one point in history out-sold gasoline-powered vehicles.

Some feel that the introduction of the electric starter by Cadillac in 1913, which simplified the difficult and sometimes dangerous task of starting the internal combustion engine, was the downfall of the electric vehicle, as 1912 may have been the pinnacle year for BEVs. Still others point out that it was radiators, in use as early as 1895 by Panhard-Levassor in their Systeme Panhard design , which allowed engines to keep cool enough to run for more than a few minutes, before which they had to stop and cool down at horse troughs along with the steamers to replenish their water supply. The truth may be that EV's had fallen out of favor over the mass produced Ford Model-T which went into production four years earlier in 1908.

Efficiency

Production and conversion battery electric vehicles typically achieve 0.3 to 0.5 kWh per mile (0.2 to 0.3 kWh/km). The U.S. fleet average of 23 mpg of gasoline is equivalent to 1.46 kWh/mi and the 70 mpg Insight gets 0.48 kWh/mi (assuming 33.6 kWh per U.S. gallon of gasoline), so battery electric cars vehicles are relatively efficient. When comparisons are made for the total energy cycle, the efficiency figures for BEVs drop, but such calculations are not commonly offered for ICE vehicles (e.g. the loss of efficiency from energy used to produce specialized fuels such as gasoline as compared to the raw energy available from crude oil or natural gas.

CO₂ emission comparisons are one good indication of the current grid-mix vs gasoline consumption. Such comparisons include production, transmission, charging, and vehicle losses. The CO₂ emissions can improve for BEVs through the use of sustainable grid or local resources but are essentially fixed for gasoline vehicles. Unfortunately the EV1, Ranger EV, EVPlus, and other production vehicles are missing from this site.

RAV4-EV vs Gas RAV4
2000 Toyota RAV4-EV 4.1 short tons CO₂ (104 mpg)
2000 Toyota RAV4 2wd 7.2 short tons CO₂ (26 mpg)
Other BEVs
2000 Nissan Altra EV 3.5 short tons CO₂
2000 Nissan Altra EV 3.5 short tons CO₂
2002 Toyota RAV4-EV 3.8 short tons CO₂
2002 Ford Explorer 7.8 short tons CO₂ (USPS)
Hybrids
2000 Honda Insight 3.0 short tons CO₂
2001 Honda Insight 3.1 short tons CO₂
2005 Toyota Prius 3.5 short tons CO₂
2005 Ford Escape H 2x 5.8 short tons CO₂
2005 Ford Escape H 4x 6.2 short tons CO₂
Standard ICE vehicles
2005 Dodge Neon 2.0L 6.0 short tons CO₂
2005 Ford Escape 4x 8.0 short tons CO₂
2005 GMC Envoy XUV 4x 11.7 short tons CO₂

It is important to study the full effect of any vehicle design, especially when promoted as better than the status quo. The goal may be to look at overall efficiency only or it may be the total environmental impact, since environmental damage reduction is often the goal behind alternative vehicle efforts. Many factors must be considered when making an overall comparison of total environmental impact. The most comprehensive comparison is known as a cradle-to-grave or lifecycle analysis. The analysis considers all inputs including original production and fuel sources and all outputs and end products including emissions and disposal. The varying amounts and types of outputs and inputs vary in their environmental effects and are difficult to directly compare. For example, are the environmental effects of nickel or cadmium contamination from a battery production facility less than those of hydrocarbon emissions or from petroleum refining? If so, how much, or how much of each would be equivalent? Similar types of questions would need to be resolved for each input and output in order to make a comparison.

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