THE CENTRAL QUESTION ...
I'm used to thinking about gallons and fill-ups, and now you're telling me I have to think in terms of amps and charging? What basic concepts do I need to understand before I delve into EVs in more detail?
COURSE ABSTRACT
A 2-part discussion of basic EV concepts, including volts and amps and measures of power and capacity that are necessary to understand battery charging. This mini-course also considers measures of vehicle efficiency including MPGe, kWh per mile and the e-Gallon. To obtain a copy of the EVU study guide for this and other available EVU courses, please complete the form on this page.
Course level: Introductory
2. 2
EVs—Basic
Concepts, part 2
EV-102b
This course is presented as part of
Evannex University—a free, open learning
environment that presents concise, video-
based mini-courses for those who have
interest in electric vehicles (EVs) …
5. Volts and amps in your garage
Begin at your service panel
Flow through wires to your EV
Higher the voltage, the more
amps can be delivered
The more amps delivered, the
faster your battery charges
6. Kilowatts (kW) and Kilowatt-Hours (kWh)
A kilowatt (1000 watts) is a
measure of power. But it’s also a
measure of how quickly you fill
your battery.
A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is a
measure of capacity—how big the
bucket is.
8. Comparisons—MPGe
Miles per gallon
equivalent (MPGe)—
indicates the number of
miles an EV can travel
using electricity that
delivers the same energy
content as a gallon of
gasoline
allows mpg comparisons
e.g., the Tesla Model S EV
gets 95 MPGe
?
11. kWh per Mile
Kilowatt hours per mile
(kWh/mile)—is a measure of
energy consumption, but also,
A measure of the efficiency of an
EV
Typically, EVs consume between
0.35 to 0.50 kWh/mile
The higher the speed the
greater kWh consumption
Source:
http://blog.maxdunn.com/articles/2009/0
3/19/tesla-efficiency
12. e-Gallon (DoE)
The price of an e-Gallon tells consumers how much it costs to
drive an EV the same distance you could go on a gallon of gas
…
E-gallon ($/gal) = FE x EC x EP
Where
FE = average fuel economy of a comparable ICE vehicle
EC = average kWh/mile of the top five EVs
EP = average price of a kWh of electricity
An online calculator can be found at:
http://energy.gov/articles/egallon-and-electric-vehicle-sales-
big-picture
13. Summary
Volts and amps live in your garage
kWh is a measure of the capacity of an EV battery
MPGe, kWh per mile, and e-Gallon are all metrics that
can be used to measure energy consumption
14. 14
… a free study guide for
all EVU mini-courses is
available for download
from our website …
For a complete list of mini-
courses and the study guide,
visit: www.evannex.com
Editor's Notes
This presentation is a part 2 of our EVU mini-course discussion of basic concepts.
If you haven’t already done so, please take a look at Part 1 before you proceed with this mini-course.
We left off with a preliminary discussion volts and amps and their real world relationship to your EV.
There are lots of additional things we could discuss,
but the bottom line is how volt and amps play a role in charging your vehicle.
And the best place to start is in your garage.
For the purposes of our discussion here , volts and amps live in your garage.
>> An electrician runs a line from your service panel—that’s the grey box on the wall in your basement or garage where your circuit breakers are located.
He then runs a circuit—electrical wiring—to the location where the charging outlet for your EV will be located, usually in your garage.
>> Electricity can then flow to that location.
We’ll talk a lot more about why volts and amps matter as you set up your garage charging circuit in more advanced EVU mini-courses, so we won’t go into details here.
>> Suffice it to say that the higher the voltage, the more amps can be delivered to charge your battery.
>> And that’s important, because the more amps delivered, the faster your battery charges.
Whenever EVs are discussed, you’ll likely hear people taking about kilowatts and kilowatt hours.
>> A kilowatt (1000 watts) is a measure of power. But it’s also a measure of how quickly you fill your battery.
>> A kilowatt-hour (kWh) is a measure of capacity—how big the bucket is or discarding the metaphor, how big your battery is.
So when you see an EV manufacturer that
>> touts a 24kWh battery, and
>> another that talks about an 85kWh battery
understand that the former has much less capacity than the latter,
>> And as a consequence,
>> the range of the first EV will be considerably less than the range of the second.
>> In addition, the larger battery also leads to better overall performance—acceleration and top speed.
But the bottom line is understanding how much you’ll save by driving an EV.
Right now in the united states, gas prices are relatively low, but even today,
filling an EV costs about 20 percent of what it costs to fill a conventional car.
And if gas prices rise to, say, $4.00 a gallon—where they were for much of 2013,
an EV looks even better in real dollar terms.
With that in mind, two measures of consumption need to be considered—the first is: miles per gallon-equivalent
>> Miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe)—indicates the number of miles an EV can travel using electricity that delivers the same energy content as a gallon of gasoline
>> that allows mpg comparisons with ICE vehicles
>> for example, the Tesla Model S EV gets 95 MPGe, 3 to 4 times better than comparable ICE vehicles
It a bit difficult to do …
It a bit difficult to do direct comparisons between the four different vehicle architectures on the road today,
but we’ve made an attempt, and provided a chart based on US DoE statistics at the website fuelconomy.gov
The “best” fuel economy in any vehicle category is always found in smaller, lighter vehicles,
and the “worst” is typically associated with large heavier vehicles, like SUVs.
The MPGe values attributed to hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles depend dramatically on
the typical distance that such vehicles travel on a regular basis.
If plug-in hybrids travel short distances only, they are comparable to EVs.
However, if they travel longer distances regularly, say a 100 mile daily commute, their MPGe moves much closed to that of a fuel efficient ICE vehicle.
The very best EVs can get about 124 MPGe, and the very best ICE vehicles get around 42 mpg. That’s a 3 to 1 ratio in favor of EVs!
For EVs, there is another measure of consumption —kWh per mile.
>> Kilowatt hours per mile (kWh/mile)—is a measure of energy consumption, but also,
>> A measure of the efficiency of an EV
>> Typically, EVs consume between 0.30 to 0.50 kWh/mile
>> The higher the speed the greater kWh consumption
The graph on the right side of your screen illustrates this for the Tesla Model S.
The vertical axis is kWh per mile consumed and the horizontal axis is mph.
It should come as no surprise that the faster your drive, the more energy you consume.
We’ll look at the reasons why in another EVU mini-course.
Another consumption metric is the “e-Gallon” developed by the US DoE. They define it in the following manner:
>> “The price of an eGallon tells consumers how much it costs to drive an EV the same distance you could go on a gallon of unleaded gasoline in a similar car. ”
If you’re interested in the technical details, here’s a quick summary of the e-Gallon calculation.
>> E-gallon ($/gal) = FE x EC x EP
>>Where
>> FE = average fuel economy of a comparable ICE vehicle
>> EC = average kWh/mile of the top five EVs
>> EP = average price of a kWh of electricity
>> An online calculator can be found at the link shown on your screen.
In this continuation of our Basic Concepts mini-course,
we expanded on some basic terms that are encountered repeatedly in discussions of EVs.
>> Volts and amps live in your garage and have a significant impact of the way you can charge your EV
>> kWh is a measure of the capacity of an EV battery
>> MPGe, kWh per mile, and e-Gallon are all metrics that can be used to measure energy consumption and the relative efficiency of EVs
In the next EVU mini-course in this sequence, we move on to EV architectures. That will help you to understand how EVs actually work, and what options are available for those who want to enter the EV world.