Frequently Asked Questions
What is an electric car? An electric car is powered by an electric motor instead of a gasoline engine.
Where does it gets its energy from? It gets its energy from rechargeable batteries,which are recharged by common household electricity or from solar panels.
How does an electric car work? The car moves by giving an electric motor energy, the motor then turns the wheels and moves the car forward or backwards.
What types of batteries can it use? Lithium polymer, lithium ion, NiMh Nickel Metal Hydride and lead acid.
Which battery is most commonly used? The lead acid battery. The next is NiMH. The next least used is lithium polymer/ion but will become the battery most used by car manufacturers.
How far and fast can an electric car go with a fully charged battery?
Telsa roadster - 241 miles and 125mph.
http://foxrecord.com/pub/tesla-roadster-electric-car-by-tesla-motors.gif
Stella - 50 miles and 62 mph.
http://www.cnet.com.au/story_media/339290200/subaru-stella-elec_1.jpg
Mitsubishi - About 99 miles and about 80 mph.
http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2008/06/mitsubishi_electric_car.jpg
Toyota Prius - 4.7 litres/100km or 60 miles per gallon
http://www.hispanianews.com/archive/2007/08/17/toyota_prius.jpg
Liv Rush - 150miles.
http://thefutureofthings.com/upload/items_icons/Liv-Rush_large.jpg
Will electric cars work in very cold climates? Maybe depending on how it is made. Normally the batteries have reduced capacity when it gets cold so it won't go as far. The car doesn't make alot of waste heat so the interior of the car doesn't get warm and the interior will be very the close to the outside temperature. If energy is used from the battery to warm the inside of the car, the car would have even less capacity to get to it's destination.
Why does cars like the Toyota Prius work fine in Canada? Those types of cars are not pure electric cars, they still have an internal combustion engine so it can be used to charge the battery and also move the car. The waste heat from the engine is used to keep the inside of the car warm in the winter. In the winter, the Prius' engine normally runs all the time, keeping the driver warm and using more gasoline than in the summer time.
When will a pure electric car be a good product in Canada? A pure electric car that can run all year round in Canada will require some improved technologies such as batteries that don't lose capacity when cold, and ways of keeping occupants warm without using too much power . Methods must be developed to keep windows from fogging up inside without having to heat the windows. Friction of the drive components must also be improved so very little energy is lost when cold.
