Charged Up

Electric vehicles (EV) can be confusing and in many ways still seem like concepts. However, the truth is electric vehicles have been around for nearly as long as combustion vehicles. It is also worth noting that there are many industries that have used electric vehicles to certain tasks for decades but are usually much smaller in size due to the battery capacity and costs.

Recently costs have plummeted due to the exponential increase in the technological advances. So as the cost barrier continues to decline, making EVs a closer reality to be most individuals, families, and businesses it is important we start to consider the true potential.

First, let’s consider how the vehicles actually move. Unlike combustion vehicles that have thousand and thousands of moving parts that all require maintenance, lubrication, and can fail over time, electric vehicles have significantly less moving parts. What this means to you, less likelihood of failures and less maintenance.

The main components are the batteries, motors, and the software. So let’s look at each:

Battery

Battery technology continues to advance and the capacities and reliability have seen incredible advancements in such a short period of time. But on thing that is tough to sometimes comprehend or compare is the electricity costs compared to the gas costs. There are many analysis and still have yet to find one that shows the “fuel” cost being higher for electric- meaning fuel consumption is less and costs will be less over the lifetime of the vehicles. Range anxiety or the fear of not having enough range to get places usually causes a pause in a transition to EVs. Let’s consider most EV have a capable range of 150-300 miles which is more than enough for most daily vehicle use. Not to mention most EV have very accurate battery consumption information allowing you to always see how many miles you have left.

Motors

Motors are the key component allowing that energy from the battery to move the wheels and ultimately instantaneous acceleration which is just fun. If you haven’t driven and EV, you should to fully understand. Motors in general have been around for nearly hundred years, with some electric motors in power plants or factories lasting decades. City water and sewage pumps, manufacturing conveyor belts run 24/7 in many instances which is far more than the typical car uses which is only a few hours per day at most. What this means for you, to put it simply, reliability. And for those that know electric motors, they typically have very low maintenance.

Software

Software ultimately is what monitors the conditions of the batteries and manage the whole EV. This alone can be a deterrent for many that have a general distrust for “technology” (however these are the same people with their whole life savings, personal information, and home security tied to software and technology. The fact is that the software and data coming from EV is far more advanced that most combustion vehicles allowing for quicker response to issues, or quicker diagnosis of issues, routine software updates and new safety features. Consider the model 3 when first released was “too heavy and slow to brake” so it received bad ratings, however one software days later and the Model 3 ratings were improved without a single vehicle entering a shop. And I won’t even go down the discussion topic of whether humans or data, software, and robots are quicker to react and respond to conditions.

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As you get curious about EVs, let us help you navigate the changing transportation landscape to an exciting one that has the ability to make transportation cleaner, safer, more reliable, and sustainable.