Lecture Notes: Lecture 1.1: Combustion Engines and Electric Motor
Lecture Notes: Lecture 1.1: Combustion Engines and Electric Motor
Lecture Notes: Lecture 1.1: Combustion Engines and Electric Motor
Heat engine
Image attribution: By Zephyris (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
The picture shows how a four stroke engine works. This is basically the modern
gasoline engine and it was invented 150 years ago.
1. On the first stroke, gasoline is injected into a chamber by opening a valve that
is then closed again.
2. On the second stroke, the cylinder moves upwards and the gasoline is
compressed.
3. On the third stroke the energy in the fuel is harvested by igniting it. The
resulting explosion drives the cylinder down and that produces a rotating
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Electric cars: Technology
Lecture notes: Lecture 1.1
Electric motor
Image attribution: By Lookang many thanks to Fu-Kwun Hwang and author of Easy
Java Simulation = Francisco Esquembre (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia
Commons
1. We take a coil of wire and make electricity flow through it, so it creates its
own magnetic field. It has become a magnet.
2. We place this magnetic coil between two magnets, so one side of the coil will
be pushed up and the other side will be pushed down.
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Electric cars: Technology
Lecture notes: Lecture 1.1
3. This makes the coil turn until it is vertical. At that moment we quickly change
the polarity.
4. The effect is rotary motion and what you are seeing here is a simplified direct
current motor in action.
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Electric cars: Technology
Lecture notes: Lecture 1.1
If you simplify this table, you can easily compare how much weight you need to
bring in your car to get 500 km extra range with each type of battery.
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Electric cars: Technology
Lecture notes: Lecture 1.1
Looking at these developments, the electric car will soon be lighter than the ICE
car, if you take the weight of the drivetrain and the energy storage together into
account. Further, as you can see from this graph from the research (“Rapidly falling
costs of battery packs for electric vehicles” by Björn Nykvist and Mans Nilsson,
Nature Climate Change, March 2015), battery prices are also swiftly plummeting,
meaning that the electric car will soon also be cheaper.
Image source: “Rapidly falling costs of battery packs for electric vehicles” by Björn
Nykvist and Mans Nilsson, Nature Climate Change, March 2015.
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