Purely Electric Automobiles

In the early 1900’s, there were a number of electrically-driven automobiles for sale. But as internal-combustion engines became more powerful and fuel less expensive, electric cars, with their limited range and lower speeds, fell out of favor. But that may soon change.

For sale at about $100,000 U.S., the Tesla Roadster is billed as being “six times as efficient as the best sports cars while producing one-tenth of the pollution.”

This totally electric car is sold by Tesla Motors, named after the great inventor and electrical genius of the early 20th Century, who is responsible for the use of alternating current in our homes to this very day. With an advertised range of 250 miles, the roadster (assembled by Lotus) has the visual appeal of the Elise and Exige, and also achieves 0-60 mph acceleration times of around 4 seconds, thus being about as “quick” as a new Corvette. It can be plugged in anywhere, or use a solar power system that will enable the owner to charge it from free sunlight while it’s parked at home.

Although an expensive automobile, it nonetheless promises to be one of the most exciting, innovative, and guiltless sports cars of recent times.



In a similar cooperative effort between a high-performance combustion-engine sports car manufacturer and a company interested in replacing those powerplants with electric motors, Wrightspeed and Ariel have created an astonishingly quick (0-60 mph in 3 seconds!) electric prototype of the amazing Ariel Atom.

And on the hot-rodding and tinkering home front, perhaps someone could take an old Suzuki Samurai, for example, take out the gas engine, and put in an electric motor and sealed nickel metal hydride or lithium-ion batteries. With the high torque an electric motor provides, it could make for a fun 4x4 commuter vehicle. (Check out Nick Viera’s website about how he converted his Jeep Cherokee to pure electric operation.)

In addition to the benefit of a DC motor’s instant torque (from a standstill), cool and virtually silent operation, and potentially much-lower “fueling” costs, electric cars can also have fewer parts and components (not needing such things as emissions controls or fuel delivery systems, for example) and be less maintenance-intensive than vehicles with internal combustion engines. And while the batteries may take up considerable space (although NiMH, Li-ion and Li-polymer batteries are getting smaller and more efficient), a decent electric motor is much smaller than an ICE of similar power output.

Since modern ICE vehicles also have extensive electronic componentry, the switch to all-electric components doesn’t seem like such a big stretch (although the automotive maintenance industry might be dismayed at the prospect of losing much of its current income.)



But there are significant engineering challenges involved in adapting systems like vehicle air conditioning and other peripherals, which must be capable of operating when the vehicle is stationary, and are typically powered by much lower voltage than that used by an EV’s motor (or by things like vacuum, also not produced by an electric motor).

And of course, range limitations combined with the weight and expense of batteries still constitute causes of concern for many people, but EV technology is constantly improving. With the modern ubiquity of grid-supplied electric power, electric vehicles seem to offer tremendous promise for the future.

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