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How Do Electric Cars Work? An Easy-to-Understand Guide

September 12, 2022 by Sean Moudry Leave a Comment

Photo Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group

Like it or not, electric cars are quickly becoming mainstream. Some states including California have already taken bold steps to ban the future sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035. For those who embrace change, this may be exciting news—for others, it can be jarring and intimidating. 

Gas-powered vehicles have dominated the roads for the past century. Gas-powered cars are convenient, easy to operate, and easy to repair. But what about electric cars?

In this article, we’ll answer some of the questions about electric vs. gas-powered vehicles and offer a simple guide to how electric cars work.

How Electric Cars Get “Fueled”

Electric cars get their “fuel” or power by charging from electricity provided by your home or a charging station. 

There are currently three different ways to charge your electric car:

  • A Level 1 Charger, which connects to a standard 120-volt wall outlet that is in your home
  • A Level 2 Charger, which connects to a 240-volt outlet, like what you use for a clothes dryer
  • A Rapid Charging Station, which you may find at the local mall, service area, or shopping center

The average electric car typically takes overnight (8-10 hours) to fully charge on a standard outlet and about half that time on a Level 2 charger. Rapid chargers are mainly used to “top off’ between stops and can provide a 20-30% charge in about 30 minutes.

Electric Cars Have Batteries to Store Electricity

man on the phone

Electric cars don’t store fuel in gas tanks like gas-powered vehicles. Instead, they have hundreds of tiny batteries similar to what you would find in your cell phone. These batteries are connected together to make larger batteries that are capable of putting out a lot of power for long periods of time.

The capacity and discharge rate of the battery mainly determines the range and power of an electric vehicle. Battery size, outside temperature, stop-and-go vs. highway driving, and the use of accessories like heat and air conditioning affect how long you can drive without needing to charge your vehicle. 

For example, the 2022 Mazda MX-30 EV has a 105kw (kilowatt) battery that can discharge at 35.5kwh (kilowatt hours), a relatively small battery in the EV world. The MX-30 estimates you can drive about 100 miles on a full charge.

How EVs Get Power: High-Voltage Electric Motors

electric motor

Gas-powered cars have large engines, typically in the front of the car, to send power to the wheels. Electric cars use one or two smaller electric motors that can fit tightly under the car to move you down the road.

One of the most common misunderstandings of electric vehicles is that they are slow or lack power. However, the EVs of today are much more powerful than the EVs of the past. Early EVs used low voltage direct current motors that provided dismal power compared to a conventional gas-powered motor. 

Today’s electric cars use high-voltage, alternating current, motors. A single high-voltage motor can produce more power than the gas-powered engine that comes in the new 2023 Corvette.

The other unique benefit of electric motors is that the motors can be used to charge the batteries. This occurs when you are braking or decelerating. The momentum from the wheels turns the motor, creating electricity, to recharge the batteries while driving.

How Electric Cars Are Similar to Gas Powered Cars

driving an electric car

The truth is electric cars drive no differently than their gas-powered counterparts. Once inside an electric car, all the basic controls are the same. This means that even if you have never even sat in an electric car, you could jump right in and immediately drive it with confidence.

A common misunderstanding of electric cars is that they don’t have heat or AC. I believe this stems from the early days of hybrid electric cars when the car would shut off all the accessories when stopped at a stoplight to increase its efficiency.

Contrary to misinformation, electric cars have heat and air conditioning that work just as well as traditional cars. Unlike a gas car where these systems run off of pulleys on the engine, electric cars use electric motors and heaters to operate these systems. Therefore, using these accessories will reduce your range. 

Electric Cars Have Fewer Parts

electric car parts

A gas-powered engine has over a hundred individual parts. Many of these parts are made of heavy steel and have to rotate and pulse in opposing directions at an incredible rate of speed. This causes a lot of heat and requires oil to keep the friction from wearing out the metal surfaces.

Gas-powered cars also have transmissions to transfer the power from the engine to the driveline and then eventually the tires. According to AAMCO Transmissions, a standard transmission found in gas-powered cars contains over 800 individual parts. 

electric motor components

An electric motor on the other hand, only has six basic components, the coils, shaft, brush, bearings, pulley, and housing. The rotor and shaft rotate on the sealed bearings inside the housing. All the motion inside an electric motor is in the same direction. This greatly reduces friction, heat, and ultimately the wear of the components.

The result is that electric cars require a lot less maintenance than gas engines and they don’t require oil changes because they don’t use oil to operate. 

For example, the 2022 Hyundai Kona EV recommends only 14 items to be serviced in the first 16,000 miles while its gas counterpart has over 40 items to be serviced in the same timeframe. 

Final Thoughts 

While the rise of EVs feels like a major change, in many ways electric cars are simple compared to the gas-powered alternative. The efficient design requires no oil and less maintenance. Other than the batteries and electric motor powering the drivetrain, they operate nearly identically to traditional gas cars. 

Have more questions about how electric cars work? Let us know in the comments. 

Filed Under: EV Basics

About Sean Moudry

Sean is a self proclaimed hot rodder and all around car enthusiast. Sean is currently building a 1965 Ford Mustang with a fully electric Tesla motor and batteries. The car can be seen on YouTube and will be featured at SEMA. Sean believes that EVs are the future and he is passionate about the improvement of EVs and their ownership experience. Contact Sean at sean@evroom.com

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