Why can't an electric car 'charge' itself?...?
This is actually a very simple question to answer. The "battery" that powers an electric car is neither a conventional car battery, nor is it like a torch battery. It is a very high-powered device, which nevertheless cannot be used on its own, but has to be used in combination with others. They need far more power for a re-charge than can be produced by the vehicle in normal operation. Let me illustrate the problem with another type of electric vehicle, common in Europe - the trolleybus. In the UK, we abandoned trolleybuses because of their inflexibility in serving new housing developments. The Dutch, in particular, have overcome this by designing a trolleybus with its own traction batteries. As the trolleybus leaves the city centre it is powered by the overhead wires through the trolley booms. When it gets to the outskirts, where it leaves the main route to serve the housing areas, the trolley booms are lowered, allowing the trolleybus to operate around the housing using its traction batteries (much like an electric car or a conventional bus). When it gets back to the main route, the trolley booms are raised again and connected to the overhead for the trip back to the city centre. BUT, on this return journey, the trolley booms are needed to provide power to re-charge the traction batteries for the next trip. Until we find an efficient method of parking electric vehicles at a precise spot in a docking bay to re-charge the traction batteries, we are stuck with having to plug in the vehicles by hand! I hope this clarifies the position.
How often do Electric cars need to be charged?
Electric cars are normally charged every night or every other night. This is because they usually have a range less than 100 miles (160km) but usually more than 25 miles (40km). Some sportier modles, however, may have ranges to as much as 200 (320km) or 300 miles (480km) and so don't need to be recharged as offten. However most people charge them every night because if they run out of "electrons" (if you will) it normally takes much longer to charge than to fuel a petrol car. Petrol cars usuall have ranges of 300 miles (480km) or more and can be refueled in about 10 minutes. Most people probably refuel their petrol cars every week. 10 minutes is a lot less time than, let's say, an 8 hour charging period. Some electric cars may charge in 4 hours, or even as little as 30 minutes with the right charging system. However this is only if there is a charging station available with that kind of power and still it is probably going to much more economical and better for the battery to charge at home from a typical home outlet. Most people charge at home all night and start out with a fresh charge the next day with the same driving range every day. However electric car owners don't feel that charging every night is a hassle. They feel that pluging in their car is about the same as pluging in your cell phone or MP3 player or laptop computer or, well you get the idea. Electric car owners sometimes feel that it is more of a hassle to plan to go to the fuel station, wait for a pump, pump gasoline, diesel or whatever, get out your walet, wait in line, and sometimes forget your fuel cap. Examples: Average driving range in USA: 30 miles (48km) GEM has a range of 30 miles (48km). Charge every night Cheverolet Volt has a range of 40 miles (64km). Charge every night or use gasoline/petrol. Nissan Leaf has a range of 100 miles (160km). Charge every other night or even every 3 nights. Tesla Roadster has a range of more than 200 miles (320km). Charge once a week. Tesla is planing to come out with cars that they hope have as much as a 500 mile (804km) range.
How often do electric cars need charged?
I bought a "conversion"; that is, someone converted a mazda pickup truck from internal combustion to electric. It doesn't use the pricey lithium batteries so it doesn't have the phenomenal range of the Tesla etc. (Then again, the truck was much cheaper than a Tesla...) It's barely able to keep up with freeway traffic so I mostly use it around town. And I look to charge it every 30 or so miles. It consumes about 10 or 11 kWh per charging cycle. I just learned that charging it after 20 miles takes 10 kWh and charging it after 30 miles takes 10 kWh. That really surprised me. Something weird about the computer algorithm used to run the charger. Because of the electric, I get a special rate for off peak electricity and each 10 kWh costs me about a dollar. 'Off-peak' is 9pm to 5am - so I don't just charge it when I get home.
That depends on the context of your question but I will try and do my best and answer the question from the standpoint of commercially available vehicles.Yes:Regenerative breaking on virtually all electric cars charges the batteries as the car slows down by using the electric motor as an electric generator in preference to the brakes. Adds 20% - 30% to your range, (depending on the driver and conditions).A few commercially available electric cars have solar panels on the roof which do little beyond a slight trickle charge, so they are not really practical for charging. (Experimental cars can drive indefinitely on solar as can be seen in this video.If the context is can the car charge itself from an external source autonomously then the answer is .... someday. There are a lot of companies working on robotic arms plugging in or ideally wireless charging where you just pull into your garage such as this company. Meet Plugless | The Wireless EV Charging StationOR PERHAPS THE ANSWER IS NOYou cannot get more energy back than you put in because of wind, rolling resistance and inefficiencies in the batteries and drive train so you need to charge from an external source eventually. We can make them more efficient but there is no overcoming the physics. (Even with improved efficiencies in solar panels)
How long does an electric car hold its charge?
A modern car that is left sitting might hold its charge for about 40 months or more: Not all electric cars have batteries. Some are series hybrids where the engine will provide power to the electric motor. Some may have fuel cells. Some may have solar cells. Some may have power transmitted to them: http://www.iav.com/us/index.php?we_objec... But some store energy on the vehicle in flywheels, ultra capacitors or batteries. How long a vehicle can hold a charge will depend upon how it is being depleted and environmental conditions. If the vehicle is running then usually we will refer to the charge in terms of range: so many miles (or km) per unit of charge. Most electric vehicles seem to be designed with a range of about 100 miles to a charge. Some like the Tesla or the aptera might do double this amount. But if the vehicle is just sitting the charge will slowly deplete. This is known as the "self discharge rate." How fast this will happen depends upon the temperature and the battery chemistry. Nickel metal hydride batteries are commonly used in hybrids. "Stored at 70 degrees F (20 C) Ni MH batteries will lose up to 40% of their charge within a month."1 At the same temperature lithium Ion batteries may only lose about 5% of their charge in 2 months.2 At this rate the charge in an electric car might last for about 40 months. You might compare this with a gas tank full of gasoline that has about 10% ethanol. This fuel will go bad (absorb too much water or release too many vapors) if it just sits in 1 to 2 months.3
Why aren't we building the self-charging electric car?
just about all electric vehicles are self-charging. They use regenerative brakes that convert the potential commonly lost for the duration of braking into electrical energy. yet any actual engineer, or absolutely everyone with even the main easy wisdom of technological expertise will inform you there is not any thank you to easily generate potential out of no longer something. some distance from collapsing the economy, unfastened potential could be a without postpone boost. it may break the oil and potential industries, however the different marketplace could by surprise see their expenses drop with the aid of a great quantity.
Charging an electric car from empty can take anywhere between 30 minutes and 12 hours, depending on the size of the vehicle's battery, its maximum charging rate and the power rating of the chargepoint itself.Aside from the vehicles battery size, the average charging time would typically vary depending on where you charge (which, in the UK, often defines the type of charging point available and how much time a driver is parked for):Considering these factors:For an overnight home charge it would be around 2 –6 hours. (Key factors: vehicle battery size, amount of charge left on battery & power rating of charging point).For a charge while parked at a destination like a supermarket, gym or public carpark it would be around 1 hour. (Key factors: amount of time the driver is visiting the destination for. Usually drivers live or work relatively locally to these destinations and are topping up - see Top Up Charging below).For a rapid charge at a motorway service station it would be around 15–30 minutes, depending on how full your battery is. (Influenced most by battery size and how much charge the battery has left. Here drivers usually need to re-charge so they can continue their journey).More details:How Long Does it Take to Charge an Electric Car? | POD PointSome other points of interest:For most drivers charging time isn't a major issue. This is because they typically top up charge when their car is parked anyway, rather than letting their battery run empty.Almost all fully electric vehicles can also use rapid chargepoints, which charge a car's battery up to 80% in as little as 30 minutes and are ideal for long distance journeys.Charging rates can differ based on the ambient temperature, the state of the battery (e.g. empty or half full) and the maximum charging rate of the vehicle.
While the introductory promotions may sound like there is a ‘free service’ being offered, what you do not know is about the information that is derived from that use.Does your car become your personal advertising device?What privacy information do you give up to use the network? etc.There are three or four different methods of delivery depending on the location.Delevery of Electricity -Home Adaptor.Here the electricity may be sub-metered, or not depending on the installtion.Your electricity pricing may be dependant on the Utility, and the ‘packages’ available. Eventually either it shows up in your home bill, or is subsidised by the state some how.Delivery of Electricity - Work/Office Adaptor.This depends on your employer.Sometimes the commercial rates of electricity, (per kw/h) is less than residential rates. Other times it is more expensive (by time of day).Eventully, the Commercial Estate / Landlord gets the electric bill.Delivery of Electricity - Shopping Mall/ Public Charging Station.Since you are ‘shopping’ at this particular mall, the operation may be subsidised by the mall tennants and shops. The state or Utility may have an arrngement with the landlord.Delivery of Electricity - Transit Gateways / Transit Hubs.Theses are transit / commuter locations where the state/jurisdiction of the Utility may be co-funding the space so that it encourages you to use the transit facility. (winter users may have public ‘block warmers ‘ for conventional ‘gasoline’ vehicles.)Super Charhger Network, Destination SpotsThese locations are subsidising the infrastructure with the sales of the products.But in all of these ‘locations’, there is no ‘free lunch’, with the electricity. Someone has to pay somewhere.
The simple answer is no, unless the car was driving constantly down a very large mountain!To make a car move requires energy from the battery. Energy can only be used to recharge the battery from the motion of the car if the car is using what is called regenerative breaking - where some of the forward motion of the car is turned beck in to electricity to slow the car. Anything that converts the motion of the car back into energy slows the car so more energy is needed to make it move faster. This includes putting wind turbines on cars (which create drag) or any other system like that.Putting solar panels on a car don't prove enough energy as the area of a car is not big enough to capture enough energy, even with the best solar panels. to even recharge the car if it's drive only a couple of times a week. The exception being very light weight cars like golf buggies in very sunny areas with very good solar panels. Hybrid cars charge the electric side of the car using petrol or other traditional fuel source but this system is far less efficient than a pure battery based car. This includes hydrogen based cars.I hope that answers your question.