Discuss about the Development of the Electric Vehicles.
Over the long period of time the huge use of fuel results in major environmental issues such as global warming,air pollution and energy crisis. Thus, alternatively driven vehicles manufacturing provide an alternative platform for the individuals that helps in creating sustainability within the environmentand reduces the impact of climate change. Hence electric vehicle is most preferable among the alternatively driven vehicles.The big revolution in mass producing of electric vehicle came with the grace of general motor ev1 in 1961.That period of time electric vehicle were available to the resident of Los Angeles,California,Arizona throughlease contracts only(Bi, De Kleine, &Keoleian, 2016). Electric vehicles are very desirable due to its economical and environmental issues. The fluctuation throughout all over the world in currency has led electric vehicle a big platform to explore reducing the import of fuel. Over the years research in battery technology lithium ion battery is more acceptable in new model electric vehicles.
First electric vehicle was developed in the year 1834 by Thomas Davenport.A big innovation in battery technology during the period 1890 to 1910 has led electric vehicle more expansion in the market. It is a golden era of electric vehicle and the given example carries this.IN 1900 cars made in US: 1681 Steam cars, 1575 Electric cars, 936 Gasoline cars (Goldberg et.al. 1983). The adaptability among people of electric vehicles is due to zero noise,emission and being easier to drive rather than combustion engine cars. One of the top selling electric vehiclesgo as 15 mph and as far as 40 miles on a single charge. The big drawback of electric vehicleare nonfunctional in non electrified ruralarea, such as low acceleration speed and short driving range. Electric vehicle pick time was in the early 1900, whereas its downfall also began after 1920.Thus the golden era of electric vehicle became very short(Conte, Genovese, Ortenzi, &Vellucci, 2014). After 1920 the vehicle market dominated by the internal combustion engines (ICG) over the electric vehicles. From the late 60s and through 80s various environmental issues and the crisis of fuel provide a second wave of electric vehicles. The awareness of the negative factors due to the combustion engines related to the both economical and environmental factors has led a re- emergence of electric vehicles. In 2009 Barak Obama Government allotted $2.4 billion as a grant for researching to better technology in batteries and further providing a $7500 tax benefit for the first 200000 electric vehicles buyers (Keating, 1979). China government also takes some ambitious plans to become the leader in production and utilization around the world. In this prospect they offer subsidies up to $8800 to taxi drivers and local government agencies for buying electric vehicle and also ordered to the power grid to set up electric car charging stations in Beijing, Shanghai etc.
The analysis of the development of the electric vehicles is based on their comparison with the other types of cars such as the hybrid cars and the ICE cars, on the various factors such as the depreciations costs, costs related to the consumption of fuel, repairing and maintenance costs and kilometer tax. In this research study the sensitivity analysis is done on the basis of the findings from the various literatures and by conducting some random interview with the industry experts. The main intent behind performing the sensitivity analysis was to analyze the overall cost per kilometer with respect to the depreciation costs, repairing and the maintenance costs and the costs of the wheels and the fuels(Del Duce, Gauch, &Althaus, 2014). The costs of the insurance, costs of the AA petrol and the costs related to the cleaning of the vehicle is considered to be stable costs. It is not possible to predict the development costs of the car taxes but as per the European Policy the development of the taxes generally depends upon the emission of the car. As per the fuel costs the research found out that the bottom prices of the oil will be around € 1.40 per litre of gasoline which is the average costs of the fuel in the year 2007. This would result in the kilometer price of €0.35. Though there are not much information that is available about the rates that are related to the H2, but as per the various research studies the current price of the hydrogen fuel will be about € 0.44 and there are chances that these prices will be reduced to € 0.056kWh if the hydrogen gas is produced in a decentralized manner by reforming the natural gas (Diao, Sun, Yuan, Li, &Zheng, 2016). On conducting the research related to the development of the electricity prices, it was found that there is large variation which ranges from € 0.22 kWh to €0.37kWh by the year 2030. It is difficult to estimate the development costs of the electric vehicles and the hydrogen vehicles as they are not manufactured in very large scale and hence no proper estimation could be made about their future production numbers.Thus, this report takes into consideration that the large scale production of the electric vehicles will start by the year 2020 and the production of the hydrogen vehicles will take place on a large scale by the year 2030. When the electric vehicles and the hydrogen vehicles will be produced on a large scale then they will converge to the price of the internal combustion engine cars. Since the batteries and the fuel cell in the electric cars and the hydrogen cars are very costly and the drive chain of the hydrogen cars is very complex thus, it can be said the costs of the hydrogen cars and the electric vehicles will be more than that of the internal combustion engines(Hellgren, 2007). Thus when the electric vehicles and the hydrogen cars are manufactured on a large scale it is estimated that the average cost of the electric vehicle per kilometer will reach around €0.34 and the per kilometer of the hydrogen cars will reach around €0.35 by the year 2030. On doing a comparison of the drive train mechanism of the ICE, Hydrogen and the electric cars, it can be said that the possibility of wearing out in the drive train mechanism of the electric vehicle is very less as compared to the hydrogen cars and the internal combustion engine cars, as there are less moving components in the drive train mechanism of the electric vehicle. Hence it can be estimated that the maintenance of the electric vehicle will cost less when compared to the ICE cars and the cars running on hydrogen fuel.
There is huge potential in the development of the energy, economic and the environment security of the country through the development of the electric vehicles especially the plug in electric cars, which will completely revolutionize the transportation system in the world in the coming years(Hellgren, 2007). The plugs in electric vehicle are those electric cars which generally have lithium ion batteries that can be recharged from an external electrical source like the wall sockets and the electricity which are stored in the rechargeable battery drives. The electric car generally uses the energy stored in the batteries to drive the propulsion system of the vehicle. In respect to the ICE cars the motors of the electric cars provide a clean and safe alternative. The electric vehicle generally uses the lithium ion batteries to drive the propulsion system of the vehicle. The main reason behind the use of the lithium ion battery is that it has high energy density and have longer span of life. Also the lithium ion batteries generally have the higher power densities with respect to the other batteries that are available. But there are high chances of the thermal breakdown and the high cost that are associated with the lithium ion batteries, thus these batteries have to be used in safe rage of temperatures and the voltage in order so that the vehicle can be operated efficiently and safely(Helmers, Dietz, &Hartard, 2015).Generally in the electric the 3 phase AC motor is used. The DC current generated from the lithium ion batteries is sent to the DC/SC inverter, which convert the DC current into the alternating current. The regenerative braking system is generally used in the modern electric cars where the motors can be utilized as brakes which in turn become generators that transform the motion of the vehicle into electrical energy that can be utilized to charge up the batteries of the car(Helmers, Dietz, &Hartard, 2015).In order to increase the efficiency of the electric vehicles it is important that the mass of the vehicle, aerodynamic resistance and the resistance due to rolling is minimized. On the other hand it is also important to maximize the efficiency of the engine motor and the transmission system. Thus, in order to reduce the cost that are associated with the expensive batteries used in the electric vehicles the efficiency of the other systems in the vehicle has to be increased.
The skeleton also called the space frame of the electrical car is generally made up of the aluminum so that it is strong and has light weight. Instead of steel the wheels of the electric cars are also made up of aluminum, so that the weight of the vehicle can be reduced. Magnesium is used for making the seat frames and the steering wheel. The impact resistant plastics are used to make the body of the electric vehicle. The impact resistant composite plastic that is used in the manufacturing of the body frame can be recycled. Plastic housings are used for placing the batteries in the electric vehicle. The manufacturing process of the electric vehicle gives due importance to both the design of the vehicle and the process to be utilized. The design of the vehicle generally includes handcrafting and high-tech systems (Jeong& Oh, 2002). In general practices the bodies of the electric cars are handcrafted in the six different working stations. In the first step the parts of the aluminum frame are put together as subassemblies which are either glued to each other or are welded together. After both the upper-body and down-body subassemblies are put together, the complete frame is cured in a two-stage oven. Then the roof is attached and the protective sealants are applied to the complete frame. In the assembly section the complex electronic systems are inserted into the frame of the car. It includes wiring of the body and the setting up of the power electronics bay which have the propulsion control module, integrated drive unit and a small radiator. Then in the next stage the interior of the car is outfitted, like the flooring, seats, carpeting and the control and the dash are placed in the car.In the third stage the air-conditioning system is put in place. Then the T-shaped battery pack is added to the car (Lu et al., 2016). The batteries are attached to the chassis. After the battery and the propulsion system are put in place the windshield is attached to the car and the other fluids are added to the car. The door system and the exterior panels are added at this stage and all the systems are checked for any malfunctioning. At the final stage the alignment of the car wheels and checked and the necessary adjustments are made.
The technical specification of the electric car is that the electric car is generally a two door hatchback which has the seating capacity of four adults. The power of the Ac electric motor is around 19KW which produces 3750rpm and gives a torque of 53.9N-m. The battery that is used in the electric vehicle is the 48V maintenance free lithium ion battery and the steering mechanism used in the vehicle is the electric powered steering. The transmission of the vehicle is fully automatic. The front suspension is the gas filled suspension with the anti roll bar mechanism and the rear suspension is the trail link suspension in which the shock absorber is gas filled along with the coil spring over Damper and the Panhard rod(Suri&Onori, 2016). The front breaks are disc break with the dimension of 215 mm x 10 mm Solid and the rear brakes are drum brakes of 180mm. The tubeless tyres will be used in the car. The dimension of the car will be around 3280 mm x 1514 mm x 1560 mm and the wheelbase of the electric car will about 1960mm. The vehicle will have a ground clearance of 180mm and the turning radius of the vehicle will be about 3.9m. The kerb weight of the vehicle will be about 830Kgs. The Body frame of the car will be of welded tubular space frame structure and the panels and bumpers color impregnated and the dent resistance body panel. The vehicle will have the top speed about 81Km/hre and the complete range of the vehicle in one charge will be about 120Kms under city driving conditions. The car will take about 5 hours to get charge completely.
Electric vehicle cost can be subdivided into two parts. one of them is capital cost and the other is long term cost. Capital cost means the purchase price of the electric vehicle, here the MSRP of the vehicle is used as the base price and the long term cost describes fueling and maintenance of the electric vehicle.For its characteristic technologies, the price of electric vehicle is higher than combustion engines cars(Xiao, Lin, Zheng, & Ye, 2012). For an example the MSRP for the combustion 2014 Chevrolet Spark18 is $14,995 while the base price for the Electric Vehicle of the same car is almost double the price, at $26,685.The huge difference in price of electric vehicle due to its 21-kWh Li-ion battery pack. It is hopeful that battery price may reduce over 50% in the upcoming years. A recent report from Navigant Research suggests that prices may drop to $300/kWh by 2015, and $180/kWh by 2020 (Roth, 2004).It is very urgent to reduce the capital cost for more acceptability.Whereas capital cost is very high but considering the long term cost is a hopeful light to the electric vehicle. This price difference in long term cost between electric vehicle and combustion engines happens because maintenance cost is fewer than combustion engines as there are a very few parts are moving in electric vehicles than the combustion engines.
The main advantage of the electric vehicle is that the moving parts in the electric vehicle are very less as compared to the ICE cars.Thus, there will less chances of wearing out cases. The motor of the electric motor generally have just 15-20 moving parts on the contrary the ICE car engines have more than 100 moving parts. Thus, it can be concluded that the motor car is simple and can be easily maintained or replaced. As per the various estimates the cost of the maintenance of the electric vehicle will be just one third to that of the conventional ICE cars. But one of the main area which is needed to be taken into consideration for the maintenance of the electric car is the battery used in the car. With time the power output of the batteries used to drive the motor of the electric car reduces and this can severely affect the range of the electric vehicle. On an average the lithium ion batteries used in the electric cars can run about one lakh thousand miles. But the cost associated with the replacement of the batteries used in electric cars will be very high if there is an increase in the demand of the electric cars then large scale production of the batteries can considerably bring down the cost associated with the batteries of the electric cars.
Taking into consideration the total calculated costs that are related to the cot per mile of passenger cars which are run battery and the conventional ICE cars, along with the costs that are associated with the various important parameters than it can be said that the electric cars have very less life cycle cost when compared to the conventional ICE cars. The reason behind this feature is that the battery cost per mile in the electric vehicle is completely balanced lower vehicle cost per mile of the electric vehicle (Marr & Walsh, 1992). Another reason can be the lower fuel consumption of the electric cars as compared to the conventional ICE cars and the either very less or no requirement of maintenance of the cars.
The recycling of the batteries that are used in the electric vehicle is very much possible. About 96 percent of the materials that are used in the lead acid batteries can be recovered where as only 36% of the materials from the glass bottles is recoverable. The batteries can also be recharged and reused before they are recycled. The lithium ion batteries that are deemed unfit for use in the electric cars still have about 80 percent of their charge left which can be utilized to prop up the grid particularly in case of the sources of energy which are not steady like that of the wind and solar energy sources. Various battery recycling plants have come up in US among which TOXCO is a big player. Popular electric car manufacturer TESLA also sends its batteries to TOXCO for recycling(Suri&Onori, 2016). When there are no charges are left in the batteries than the batteries are frozen in the liquid nitrogen which are so cold that the battery could not react and the batteries are then smashed into small pieces. Then the metals are separated out for their reuse.
Conclusion and Recommendations
If the progress in the electric cars continues as expected, then in the coming years it will be possible to have electric cars that are lightweight and have efficient electric motors. For making the electric car financially viable it will be important that the electric car fulfills all the low cost projections such that the life cycle cost associated with the electric vehicles is less as compared to the conventional electric vehicles.
References
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