Battery electric vehicle

The battery electric vehicle, or BEV, is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs.

As electric vehicle, it employs electric motors and motor controllers instead of internal combustion engines (ICEs).

All-electric and hybrid electric vehicles

Vehicles using both electric motors and ICEs are examples of hybrid electric vehicles, and are not considered pure (or all) EVs because they operate in a charge-sustaining mode.

* Regular hybrid electric vehicles cannot be externally charged.
* Hybrid vehicles with batteries that can be charged externally to displace some or all of their ICE power and gasoline fuel are called plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and are BEVs during their charge-depleting mode.

All-electric and plug-in hybrids are off-vehicle charge capable (“OVCC” or pluginable), which means having the capability to charge a battery from an off-vehicle electric energy source that cannot be connected or coupled to the vehicle in any manner while the vehicle is being driven [http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/zevprog/hevtest/071608aftermarketpartsdraftrev.pdf] .

Vehicles

The concept of battery electric vehicles is to charge batteries on board vehicles for propulsion using the electric grid.

The main advantages of battery electric vehicles are that:
#No pollutants are emitted directly by the vehicle potentially reducing urban pollution. This does not take into account additional pollutants that are emitted if any fossil fuel power plant is used to create the electricity, though a centralized pollution source can be dealt with more easily.
#Gasoline is indirectly replaced by whatever is being used to generate domestic electricity, reducing dependence on foreign commodities. The electrical energy stored within the battery can be generated by any source, including renewable, nuclear, natural gas, coal and petroleum.

Battery electric cars are becoming more and more attractive with the advancement of new battery technology (Lithium Ion) that have higher power and energy density (i.e. greater possible acceleration and more range with less batteries) and higher oil prices. [http://www.4futureenergy.com/BatteryElectric.htm ,2008]

BEVs include automobiles, light trucks, and neighborhood electric vehicles.

Electric bus

At 2008 fuel prices, battery powered buses are more economical than diesel or gasoline powered buses. The additional cost of the batteries is made up forFact|date=September 2008 by the low operating cost in the first half of the typical million to two million mile (three million kilometer) life of the bus.

Chattanooga, Tennessee operates nine free (no fares) electric buses, which have been in operation since 1992 and have carried 11.3 million passengers and covered a distance of 1.9 million miles. They were made locally by Advanced Vehicle Systems. Two of these buses were used for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. [ [http://www.carta-bus.org/routes/elec_shuttle.asp Downtown Electric Shuttle] Retrieved 18 August 2008] [ [http://www.smartcommunities.ncat.org/success/chattano.shtml Success Stories] Retrieved 18 August 2008]

Beginning in the summer of 2000, Hong Kong airport began operating a 16-passenger Mitsubishi Rosa electric shuttle bus, and in the fall of 2000, New York City began testing a 66 passenger battery powered school bus, an all electric version of the Blue-Bird TC2000. [ [http://www.e-driveonline.com/articles/dec00-3.htm Solectria Develops an All Electric Version of the Blue Bird TC2000] Retrieved 18 August 2008] A similar bus was operated in Napa Valley, California for 14 months ending in April, 2004. [ [http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/icat/projects/smud.htm Electric School Bus] Retrieved 18 August 2008]

The 2008 Beijing Olympics used a fleet of 50 electric buses, which have a range of convert|130|km|abbr=on with the air conditioning on. They use Lithium-ion batteries, and consume about 1 kWh/mile. The buses were designed by the Beijing Institute of Technology and built by the Jinghua Coach Co. Ltd. [ [http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/31/content_8880067.htm UNDP donates electric buses to Beijing Olympic Games] Retrieved 15 August 2008] The batteries are replaced with fully charged ones at the recharging station to allow 24 hour operation of the buses. [ [http://english.bit.edu.cn/col399/article.htm1?id=25756 BIT Attends the Delivery Ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games Alternative Fuel Vehicles with its Pure Electric Bus] Retrieved 15 August 2008]

Thunder Sky

Thunder Sky Energy Group of Shenzhen, China (near Hong Kong) builds lithium-ion batteries used in submarines and has four models of electric buses, the ten passenger EV-6700 with a range of convert|260|km|abbr=on, the TS-6100EV and TS-6110EV city buses, and the 43 passenger EV-2008 highway bus, which has a range of convert|300|km|abbr=on. The batteries can be recharged in 1 hour or replaced in 5 minutes. The buses are also to be built in the United States and Finland. [ [http://www.thunder-sky.com/ Thunder Sky website] ]

Free Tindo

Tindo is an all-electric bus from Adelaide, Australia. The Tindo (aboriginal word for sun) is made by Designline International [ [http://www.designlineinternational.com/ Designline] ] in New Zealand and gets its electricity from a solar PV system on Adelaide's central bus station. Rides are free as part of Adelaide's public transport system. [ [http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1245/ All-Electric, Solar-Powered, Free Bus!!!] ]

Milk float

A common example of the battery electric vehicle is the milk float. Since it makes many stops in delivering milk it is more practical to use an electric vehicle than an ICE, which would be idling much of the time; it also reduced noise in residential areas. For most of the 20th century, the majority of the world's battery electric road vehicles were British milk floats. [ [http://www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~racowan/escape.html Escaping Lock-in: the Case of the Electric Vehicle] ]

Garbage truck

With a similar driving pattern of a delivery vehicle like the milk float above, garbage trucks are excellent candidates for electric drive. Most of their time is spent stopping, starting or idling. These activities are where internal combustion engines are their least efficient. In preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games, 3,000 of the internal combustion engine garbage trucks in Beijing were replaced with lithium ion polymer battery pack electric drive trucks. [ [http://jcwinnie.biz/wordpress/?p=2082 Electric Drive Garbage Trucks in Beijing] ] The batteries were procured for about $3,300 each. [ [http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Advanced-Battery-Technologies-Inc-726087.html Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. Signs Contract to Supply PLI Battery Cells for Electric Sanitation Trucks for 2008 Olympics] ]

Pickup trucks

In early 2009, Phoenix Motorcars will be making both their SUT and SUV available for public purchase. One of the surviving electric vehicles from the late 1990s is the Chevy S-10 electric pickup truck. Many other vehicles from this era, such as the General Motors EV1 were recalled and destroyed. A newcomer is the Miles Electric Vehicles ZX40ST electric truck now available in the United States. Miles Electric Vehicles is based in Santa Monica, California. [cite web|url=http://www.milesev.com|title=Miles Electric Vehicles|work=Miles Electric Vehicles]

Electric cars

Electric trolleys

Electrathon

Electric motorcycles and scooters

Technology

Motors

Electric cars have traditionally used series wound DC motors, a form of Brushed DC electric motor. More recent electric vehicles have made use of a variety of AC motor types, as these are simpler to build and have no brushes that can wear out. These are usually Induction motors or Permanent Magnet AC motors. There are several variations of the permanent magnet motor which offer simpler drive schemes and / or lower cost including the Brushless DC Electric Motor.

Motor controllers

The motor controller regulates the power to the motor, supplying either variable pulse width DC or variable frequency variable amplitude AC, depending on the motor type, DC or AC.

Batteries

*Valence Technology, manufacturers of lithium phosphate batteries used in electric vehicles

ee also

*List of production battery electric vehicles
*List of electric vehicle battery manufacturers
*Battery balancer
*Cater MetroTrolley
*Car battery
*Electric boat
*Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA)
*Electric vehicle conversion
*Global Electric Motorcars
*Hybrid vehicle
*Milk float
*Project Better Place
*Supercapacitor
*Think Global
*Tokyo Electric Power
*Zero-emissions vehicle

References

External links

* [http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/fuels/stations_locator.html Alternative Fueling Station Locator] , charging stations (EERE).
* [http://www.automotivedesign-europe.com/ Automotive DesignLine Europe] , electric and hybrid vehicle design resource for engineers and engineering managers.

Patents

*, Emil E. Keller, " [http://www.google.com/patents?id=KI0_AAAAEBAJ&dq=%22Electrically+Propelled+Perambulator%22 Electrically Propelled Perambulator] ", 1894
*, Hiram Percy Maxim, "Motor vehicle", 1897
*, Hiram Percy Maxim et al., " [http://www.google.com/patents?id=d6JHAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&dq=%22Electric+motor+vehicle%22 Electric motor vehicle] ", 1904

Organizations

* [http://www.batteryvehiclesociety.org.uk/ Battery Vehicle Society (UK)] and [http://www.ev-network.org.uk/ EV Network - the UK national directory of recharging points] .
* [http://www.avere.org/ The European Association for Electric Vehicles (AVERE)] .
* [http://www.evcanada.org/ EVCanada - Promoting the uptake of Electric Vehicles in Canada]
* [http://www.elektromobily.wz.cz/ Czech EV Club - (CZ) Eng. section in photogallery]
* [http://www.aeva.asn.au/ Australian Electric Vehicle Association]
* [http://www.ElectricCarSociety.com/ Electric Car Society]

News

* [http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-wed-car-batteries_06-17jun18,0,4936123.story Battery-powered car race is on] (Chicago Tribune)
* [http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/autos/0806/gallery.electric_cars_now/5.html 5 electric cars you can buy now] (CNNMoney.com)