Electric Vehicles and IoT

Introduction 

At the recent COP26 held in Glasgow, countries revisited their climate pledge of cutting emissions. As a part of which, the adoption of electric vehicles has seen a significant rise. That’s why you may also see a lot of discussion about the same.
Electrics are said to be the future of the auto industry and no smart device can ever be imagined without IoT. 

So this article will discuss Electric vehicles and IoT in detail. 

What are EVs 

EV(s) is short for Electric Vehicle(s). These vehicles are either fully or partially powered by electric power. Some EVs use lead-acid or nickel-metal hydride batteries but nowadays the standard for modern battery electric vehicles is lithium-ion batteries as they are considered to have greater longevity and are excellent at retaining energy, along with a self-discharge rate of just 5% per month.  

Working of the Electric Vehicle 

A very simple working of Electric Vehicles can be as follows:
 

Let’s briefly discuss the key elements of the Electric Vehicles: 

There is no concept of gears in Electric Vehicles. They are actually fully automatic Vehicles. In ‘drive’ mode, the vehicle accelerates as any other automatic vehicle.

So, when the accelerator is pressed, power is transferred from the battery to the electric motor. The motor igains power resulting in the drive shafts rotating the wheels. When the brakes are pressed, the car starts to decelerate and the motor turns into an alternator, generating power. This power is then sent into the battery. This will become more clear if you are aware of its components.  

Let’s have a quick glance at the major components present in all the electric vehicles. 

1. Battery
   The auxiliary battery provides electricity to power accessories for Electric Vehicles.
    
2. Charge port
   The charge port enables the vehicle to connect to an external power supply for charging the traction battery pack.
    
3. Converter/Inverter
   The converter simply converts higher-voltage AC/DC power from the traction battery pack to the lower-voltage AC/DC power required to recharge the auxiliary battery and operate the vehicle accessories.
    
4. Onboard charger
   It takes the incoming AC electricity supplied through the charge port and converts it to DC power for charging the traction battery. It also has the responsibility of communicating with the charging equipment and monitoring battery features like current, temperature voltage, and state of charge while charging the pack. 
    
5. Electric traction motor
   It uses power from the traction battery pack to drive the vehicle's wheels.  
    
6. Traction battery pack
   It stores electricity to be used by the electric traction motor.
    
7. Power electronics controller
   It manages the flow of electrical energy produced by the traction battery, keeping a check on the velocity of the electric traction motor and the torque generated.
    
8. Thermal system(cooling)
   It is a system responsible for maintaining a proper operating temperature in the range of the components.
    
9. Transmitter
   It transmits the mechanical energy from the electric traction motor to drive the wheels.
    

Now, there are two types of Electric Vehicles:  

Types of Electric Vehicles

Battery Electric Vehicles(BEVs)

They have a huge battery that has the capability to power more than one electric motor.  

These are the purest electric vehicles. These vehicles are powered by rechargeable battery packs, with no secondary source of power. These vehicles are plugged into some electricity source for recharge.

Hybrid Vehicles

Hybrid vehicles are vehicles that utilize more than one means of energy combining a fossil-fuel engine with an electric motor. Hybrid vehicles have a conventional engine, a battery, and an electric motor. Hybrids are categorized as either strong or mild and this depends on the amount of battery power that they have. With more battery capacity, strong hybrids can drive more than mild ones on electric power only.   

Also see, Difference Between Verilog and Vhdl

Advantages of Electric Vehicles 

There are several reasons of why there is such a surge in the interest toward discarding the fuel-based vehicles and adoption of Electric Vehicles.  

1. Electric Vehicles are categorized as zero-emission vehicles because of the fact that they produce no direct exhaust or pipe emissions in gaseous or any other form.  
 

2. As mentioned earlier in this article, they come with lithium-ion batteries, and they are recyclable. This adds to their environment-friendly characteristics.
 

3. Additionally, they have low-cost operations and require very less maintenance. 
 

4. Several electric vehicles have a regenerative braking model incorporated into them. Because of this, every time brakes are pressed, electricity is generated by the generator and it recharges the battery. This leads to the charging of battery packs and increases the time span when the user has to visit the charging station.