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BATTERY ELECTRIC VEHICLES (BEV)
Definition
A battery-electric vehicle (BEV) uses electricity stored in its battery pack to power an electric motor that turns its wheels. The battery pack is often recharged by connecting or “plugging” it into a wall socket or other electrical source, such as a solar panel.
Because a BEV uses electricity as a fuel, there are no emissions out of its tailpipe. In fact, it does not even have a tailpipe! Furthermore, it costs pennies, rather than dollars at the gas pump, to recharge a BEV. The development of BEVs has made a significant contribution to battery research and to the advancement of electric motors and power electronics used in both hybrid electric and fuel cell vehicles. Yet, the widespread use of BEVs depends on advances in battery technology.
Types of BEV vehicles:
Standard BEV, Hybrids, and Plug-in Hybrids
What are battery-electric vehicles? Battery-electric vehicles are powered by motors that draw electricity from on-board batteries, which act as an "engine" to propel it. Electric vehicles don't produce pollution from the tailpipe or through fuel evaporation, which means they have potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and smog-forming pollutants. Depending on the source of electricity used to recharge the batteries, the vehicles can also have low overall (life-cycle) GHG emissions.
What are hybrid electric vehicles?
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), combine a battery powered electric motor with a conventional internal combustion engine. Hybrids offer the extended driving range and rapid refueling of conventional vehicles, along with many of the energy and environmental benefits of electric vehicles. A number of hybrid vehicle models are widely available on the market today, with many more hybrid models due to enter the Canadian market in the next few years.
What are Plug-in Hybrid electric vehicles?
According to the US department of Energy, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) combine the benefits of pure electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles. Like electric vehicles, they plug into the electric grid and can be powered by the stored electricity alone. Like hybrid electric vehicles, they have engines that enable greater driving range and battery recharging.
History of BEVs and hybrid vehicles:
1665 – 1825 - Between 1665 and 1680, Flemish Jesuit priest and astronomer Ferdinand Verbiest created plans for a miniature four-wheel unmanned steam “car” for Chinese Emperor Khang Hsi. In 1769, Frenchman Nicholas Cugnot built a steam-powered motor carriage capable of six miles per hour. In 1825, British inventor Goldsworthy Gurney built a steam car that successfully completed an 85 mile round-trip journey in ten hours time. (Steamers dominated the automotive landscape until the late 19th century.)
1839 - Robert Anderson of Aberdeen, Scotland built the first electric vehicle. 1870 Sir David Salomon developed a car with a light electric motor and very heavy storage batteries. Driving speed and range were poor.
1886 - Historical records indicate that an electric-powered taxicab, using a battery with 28 cells and a small electric motor, was introduced in England.
1888 - Immisch & Company built a four-passenger carriage, powered by a one- horsepower motor and 24-cell battery, for the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. In the same year, Magnus Volk in Brighton, England made a three-wheeled electric car.
1890 – 1910 - Period of significant improvements in battery technology, specifically with development of the modern lead-acid battery by H. Tudor and nickel-iron battery by Edison and Junger.
1897 - The London Electric Cab Company began regular service using cars designed by Walter Bersey. The Bersey Cab, which used a 40-cell battery and 3 horsepower electric motor, could be driven 50 miles between charges.
1897 - The Pope Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut, built around 500 electric cars over a two-year period.
1898 - The German Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, at age 23, built his first car, the Lohner Electric Chaise. It was the world's first front-wheel-drive. Porsche's second car was a hybrid, using an internal combustion engine to spin a generator that provided power to electric motors located in the wheel hubs. On battery alone, the car could travel nearly 40 miles.
1898 - The Electric Carriage and Wagon Company, of New York City, had a fleet of twelve sturdy and stylish electric cabs.
1899 - The Pope Manufacturing Company merged with two smaller electric car companies to form the Electric Vehicle Company, the first large-scale operation in the American automobile industry. The company had assets of $200 million. Two hybrids appeared at the Paris Salon.
1900 - American car companies made 1,681 steam, 1,575 electric and 936 gasoline cars. In a poll conducted at the first National Automobile Show in New York City, patrons favored electric as their first choice, followed closely by steam.
In the first few years of the twentieth century, thousands of electric and hybrid cars were produced. This car, made in 1903 by the Krieger company, used a gasoline engine to supplement a battery pack. Henry Ford’s assembly line and the advent of the self-starting gas engine signaled a rapid decline in hybrid cars by 1920.
1900 - A Belgian carmaker, Pieper, introduced a 3-1/2 horsepower "voiturette" in which the small gasoline engine was mated to an electric motor under the seat. When the car was "cruising," its electric motor was in effect a generator, recharging the batteries. But when the car was climbing a grade, the electric motor, mounted coaxially with the gas engine, gave it a boost. The Pieper patents were used by a Belgium firm, Auto-Mixte, to build commercial vehicles from 1906 to 1912.
1902 - A series-hybrid runabout competed against steam and gas-powered cars in a New York to Boston reliability test.
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