Which is better, electric cars or internal combustion engine cars? Electric cars were in their heyday in 1900. But a sudden increase in efficiency for gas-powered cars, accompanied by battery technology, killed off electric cars by 1920. But with recent advances in battery technology and power electronics, electric cars have made a strong comeback. You will scientifically compare these completely different technologies and understand which one is superior. Nowadays, we frequently see gasoline-powered vehicles that we use, but recently, car brands have started to produce electric cars.
How Electric Cars and Gas Powered Vehicles Work :
In gasoline vehicles, the IC engine is the power source. The flow of fuel into the engine produces sufficient pressure and temperature energy to burn the fuel and move the pistons. The linear motion of the piston is converted into rotational motion using a sliding crank mechanism. This rotation of the transmission is used to transfer rotation to the drive wheels. In electric cars, the power source comes from the battery pack. In electric cars, the power source comes from the battery pack. Inverter converts DC battery power into Three phase Ac power. Three Phase Ac turns an induction motor which will turn the drive wheels. Three Phase Ac turns an induction motor which will turn the drive wheels. Now let’s compare these technologies. Power and power generation in an IC engine are not uniform. Reciprocating components cause significant mechanical balancing problems. Also, the engine does not start on its own. IC makes the engine quite heavy. Such problems do not occur in the electric motor. Asynchronous motors work with the help of a rotating magnetic field produced by the stator. You can easily control the motor speed by adjusting the AC power input frequency. Power and speed output are uniform and self-starting. For these reasons the induction motor is much lighter than the IC motor and also produces more power and torque output. It is interesting that both IC motor and induction motor need cooling. To keep the temperature below a certain limit, both power supplies must reject the waste heat generated. However, it should be said that the waste heat produced by the asynchronous motor is much lower than the IC motor. The main advantage of a car with an IC engine is the ease of refueling. A gasoline car can be refueled in 5 minutes or less, but nowadays electric cars take at least 1 hour to charge. An important advantage of gas-powered cars over electric cars relates to their high energy density.
Power Performance of Electric and Gas Vehicles :
The energy density of the current lithium-ion battery is nowhere near that of Gas cars. Both cars produce similar travel ranges. You can only compare the size and weight of energy storage devices. The poor energy density of the battery causes a large weight increase in the electric car. The large weight of the vehicle reduces the coefficient of friction between the tire and the road, making cornering ability significantly more difficult. The battery pack also causes the problem of excess heat generation. If you disassemble the battery pack of an electric car, you will see that the battery pack is a collection of Lithium-Ion cells that you can use in your daily life. Constant liquid cooling is necessary to keep the battery temperature at a normal level. The resulting heat is sent back to the atmosphere through a radiator. A gasoline car energy storage section does not need such a cooling mechanism. The battery pack of electric cars also has its advantages. Since the heavy battery pack sits very close to the ground, it increases the center of gravity and thus roadholding. This increases overall security. The large battery pack provides ground-based structural rigidity against side collisions. In an IC engine car, complex exhaust gas treatment is needed to keep pollutants and noise at legal levels. Complex exhaust gas treatment is needed to keep noise at legal levels.
Differences :
Let’s compare the power dynamics of the two technologies. Electric cars are clearly ahead in this regard. IC engines cannot be operated beyond a certain speed range. This requires a complex and expensive transmission Mechanism for speed control. The engine can operate efficiently over a wide speed range. In electric cars, the speed can be controlled directly from the engine. As a result, there is no need for a speed-changing transmission for an electric car. Asynchronous motor speed is accurately controlled by the inverter by adjusting the output power frequency. In fact, in fact improvements made in the software behind inverter power electronics in the last decade, have played a significant role in the revival of electric cars. While an electric car can produce huge torque even at startup, a car with an IC engine will struggle at low rpm. Therefore, a DC motor is needed to initially drive the motor into the optimum rpm range. Moreover, while the response of IC motors is low, the torque and power of the electric motor can be controlled instantly. This helps with far superior traction controls in electric cars.
Regenerative Braking in Electric Vehicles :
Electric cars have unique advantages in regenerative braking. The same induction motor acts as a generator here. For regenerative braking in a gasoline car you need to install a separate DC motor and battery pack. Electric cars use regenerative braking; when you suddenly take your foot off the gas pedal while driving, the car automatically brakes lightly. Thanks to this system, it charges the battery as extra energy as well as electrical energy. To briefly summarize, the biggest advantage is that “the energy spent returns to the battery”.
Which Vehicle do you Think is More Economical?
The cost of an electric car is much more than the average gasoline car, but to make a comparison you need to calculate the amount of fuel consumed in a year. Calculation based on current US gasoline and electricity prices shows that electric cars are at least a third cheaper than gasoline vehicles. In addition, the maintenance cost of electric cars is lower than that of vehicles with IC engines. You may have already noticed that electric cars are safer than internal combustion cars. Internal combustion engines are almost saturated with technological developments, and with the rapid development of electric cars, you can clearly see that electric cars have an advantage over IC engine cars for the future.