Electric Car Designs
Electric car designs are changing each year in order to maximize energy usage.
Building an Electric Car
There are two different overarching designs for electric cars. One can either build an electric car from scratch or purchase one from a known manufacturer.
Although this sounds like something only an engineer can do, many who have already accomplished this endeavor assert that it requires little more aptitude than one would procure from a machine shop class in high school. Specifically, the basic skills needed are welding, metal cutting, drafting, and general design. The corresponding tools would be a “mig” welder and a metal cut-off saw. It is also advisable to have someone with auto body and auto painting experience on hand for aesthetic purposes, but this is not essential to build a functional electric vehicle.
One would then need to appropriate the necessary materials. This includes steel tubing, an electric motor, a drive train, a body structure (which could be a large block of Styrofoam covered in Elmer’s glue and then fiberglass, or chicken wire likewise covered in fiberglass), and either a conventional windshield or one made of Lexan plastic.
Then, the frame would be constructed from welded metal, followed by the steering mechanism and the electric drive components, and finally, the body should be added last. Throughout the entire process, it is imperative to ensure that all components are in working order and it is best to ensure that the car is functional before adding the body, which would make it significantly more difficult to add modifications.
Electric Cars by Large Manufacturers
There have been many false starts in the electric car industry. In fact, electric car designer Lee Hart asserts that electric cars have existed for over 100 years. Accordingly, there are a number of different types of electric cars. For example, a company that later went bankrupt named Solectria created a car called the Sunrise, which operated on solar power. It was a sedan that held up to four passengers and was capable of traveling up to 65 miles per hour for 375 miles on a single charge.
Another example is the Impact by General Motors, later called the EV1, which was built in response to the zero-emission vehicle mandate from California. The car began with lead-acid batteries with a range of 80 to 100 miles and a top speed of 80 miles per hour (but this was an electronically established limit). The second generation of this car (which was the last generation before its discontinuation) used a NiMH battery, and had a new range of 100 to 120 miles between charges. There was a recall of the first generation vehicles in 2000, but this did little to compromise the popularity and viability of the vehicles, and only one reported incident resulted from the defect. Other manufacturers and corresponding brands include:
The Chevrolet Volt, which is a plug-in hybrid
- Lithium-ion battery pack
- Up to 40 miles using electricity only
The Th!nk Ox Electric Car, which is a purely electric vehicle
- Lithium-ion battery pack
- Up to 125-155 mile range between charges
The Phoenix Motorcar Sports Utility Truck Series (which is a series of SUVs with electric engines)
- Lithium Titanate Battery
- 95 mph top speed (set by electronic governor), up to 100+ mile range between charges
The Current by Electric City Motors, which is a purely electric vehicle
- 144 volt Nanotube battery pack
- 75 mph top speed, up to 300 mile range between charges
The Tesla Roadster
- An Energy Storage System comprised of thousands of lithium-ion cells
- 125 mph top speed (set by electronic governor), up to 230+ mile range between charges
Of course, this is only a small sample of what is currently available and what will be available within the next few years. Some of these models require an electric car charge station, which will limit its ability to be easily facilitated into the market (given that these stations are so few and far between, and many more need to be build for them to be considered accessible). Alternately, many models also charge from regular home 140-volt wall outlets or the 240-volt outlets used for clothes driers. Ultimately, electric cars are just as diverse as their gasoline-powered counterparts and may very well replace cars with internal combustion engines in the future.
