Page 11 - ElectriCar Magazine
P. 11

 technology. MOSFET power converters allowed operation at much higher switching frequencies, made it easier to drive, reduced power losses, and significantly reduced prices, while single-chip microcontrollers could manage all aspects of the drive control and had the capacity to handle battery management. Another important technology that enabled modern highway-capable Electric Vehicles
was the IithiumIon battery, invented by John Goodenough, Rachid Yazami and Akira Yoshino in the 1980s, which was responsible for the development of electric vehicles capable of long- distance travel.
In 1990, the General Motors’ President introduced its Electric Vehicle concept two-seater, the “Impact”, at the Los Angeles Auto Show. That year, the California Air Resources Board mandated major- automaker sales of Electric Vehicles, in phases starting in 1998. From 1996 to 1998 GM produced 1117 EV1s, 800 of which were made available through three-year leases.
Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, and Toyota also produced limited numbers of Electric Vehicles for California drivers. Upon the expiration of GM’s EV1 leases, it was discontinued in 2003. The discontinuation has been attributed to the auto industry’s successful federal court challenge to California’s zero-emissions vehicle mandate, a federal regulation requiring GM to produce and maintain spare parts for a few thousands EV1s and the success of the oil and auto industries’ media campaign to reduce public acceptance of Electric Vehicles.
A movie made on the subject of the GM EV1, was titled “Who Killed the Electric Car?” and released theatrically by Sony Pictures Classics. The film explores the roles of automobile manufacturers, oil industry, the U.S. government, batteries, hydrogen vehicles, and consumers, and each of their roles in limiting the deployment and adoption of the technology.
Ford released a number of their
Ford Ecostar delivery vans into the public sector while Honda, Nissan and
JUNE 2020
Toyota also repossessed and crushed most of their Electric Vehicles, which, like the GM EV1s, had been available only by closed-end lease. After public protests, Toyota sold 200 of its RAV EVs to eager buyers; they later sold
at over their original $40,000.00 price. This lesson did not go unlearned as BMW of Canada sold off a number
of Mini Electric Vehicles when their Canadian testing ended.
During the last few decades, environmental impact of the petroleum- based transportation infrastructure, along with the fear of peak oil, has
led to renewed interest in an electric transportation infrastructure. Electric Vehicles differ from fossil fuel-powered vehicles in that the electricity they consume can be generated from a wide range of sources, including fossil fuels, nuclear power, and renewable sources such as tidal power, solar power, hydropower, and wind power or any combination of those. The carbon footprint and other emissions of electric vehicles varies depending on the fuel and technology used for electricity generation. The electricity may then
be stored on board the vehicle using a battery, flywheel, or supercapacitors. Vehicles making use of engines working on the principle of combustion can usually only derive their energy from a single or a few sources, usually non-renewable fossil fuels. A key advantage of hybrid or Plug-In Electric Vehicles is regenerative braking, which recovers kinetic energy, typically lost during friction braking as heat, as electricity restored to the on-board battery.
As of 2018, the world’s two best selling All-Electric cars in history are the Nissan Leaf, with 300,000 in global sales and the Tesla Model S, with over 200,000 in global sales.
As of 2018, there are some 45 series production highway-capable All-Electric cars available in various countries. As of late 2015, the Leaf, with 200,000 units sold worldwide, was the world’s top-selling highway- capable all Electric Vehicle of all time, followed by the Tesla Model S with global deliveries of about 100,000
units. Leaf global sales achieved the 300,000 unit milestone in early 2018.
As of mid 2015, more than 500,000 highway-capable All-Electric passen- ger cars and light utility vehicles had been sold worldwide since 2008, out of total global sales of about 850,000 light-duty Plug-In Electric Vehicles. As of mid 2015, the United States had the largest fleet of highway-capable Plug- In Electric Vehicles in the world, with about 335,000 highway legal Plug-In Electric cars sold in the country since 2008 and representing about forty per- cent of the global stock. California is the largest Plug-In car regional market in the country, with almost 143,000 units sold between late 2010 and mid 2015, representing over forty-six per- cent of all Plug-In cars sold in the U.S. Cumulative global sales of All-Electric cars and vans passed the one-million unit milestone in late 2016.
Norway is the country with the highest market penetration per capita in the world, with four Plug-In Electric Vehicles per one-thousand inhabitants in 2013. In mid 2014, Norway became the first country where over one in every one-hundred passenger cars on the roads is a Plug-In Electric. In 2016, twenty-nine percent of all new car sales in the country were battery-powered
or Plug-In Hybrids. Norway also had the world’s largest Plug-In Electric segment market share of total new car sales, almost forteen percent in 2014, up from almost six percent in 2013. In mid 2016, Andorra became the second country in this list, with a six percent
of market share combining Electric Vehicle and Plug-In Hybrids due to a strong public policy providing multiple advantages. As of mid 2015, there were 58,989 Plug-In Electric Vehicles registered in Norway, consisting of 54,160 all-electric vehicles and 4,829 Plug-In Hybrids. By the end of 2016, Norway’s 100,000th battery-powered car was sold.
By some estimates Electric Vehicles sales may constitute almost a third of new-car sales by the end of 2030.
 9












































































   9   10   11   12   13