The Physics of an Electric Car

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The Physics of an Electric Car

Cannon returns home from work on an average day. He gets his things and trudges into the house, thinking about the events of the day. He relaxes for the evening, thinking about the good things in life. He is lucky that he has a good job, a nice house, and a nice car. But wait, it feels like he forgot something today. His mind races, did he forget a project at work? He couldn’t have, he works so hard to keep up. Not thinking of what he forgot, Cannon stumbles to bed for much needed rest. About three o’clock, Cannon shoots out of bed. He remembered… He forgot to plug in his car. Will there be enough power in the batteries to get him to work? How in the world does that car work anyway?

During the past few years, there has been an increasing concern over our use of gasoline in cars. There are a few answers to this concern. One of the first and most viable answers is the electric car. These vehicles are made up of a few components that help them run just like a normal car. The components to a direct current (DC) electric vehicle are the batteries, the controller and potentiometer, the motor and a specialized

One of the major problems with electric vehicles is storing enough energy to supply the motor over an extended range. The average distance for an electric vehicle is 50-100 miles. Batteries are the energy source for our vehicles. “Most electric cars use lead-acid batteries, but new types of batteries, including zinc-chlorine, nickel metal

hydride, and sodium-sulfur, are becoming more common” (Encarta, car). In most vehicles, storage for batteries is a problem. It takes a lot of room for the batteries. It takes between 16 and 50 batteries to get enough energy stored to go any distance.
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...ssed and turned all night. He wondered if he would have enough battery power to get him to work on time. Turns out he did have enough to get to work. He spent the next day looking into what made his car run. He realized that there are only a few major components to his electric vehicle: the batteries, the controller and potentiometers, the motor, and the regenerative braking system. What a great way to travel!

Works Cited

Brian, Marshall. “How Electric Cars Work.” 1 May 2003. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/electric-car.htm

"Electric Car," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2003. 1 May 2003. http://encarta.msn.com

"Electric Motors and Generators," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2003. 1 May 2003. http://encarta.msn.com

Kirkpatrick, Larry D., Wheeler, Gerald F. Physics: A World View. Fourth ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, 2001.

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