PART 2
PILLARS OF AN ELECTRIC MOBILITY ECOSYSTEM The electric mobility ecosystem comprises six main components:
1
2
The electric vehicle
Batteries
3
4
Battery re-energising system
Other ancillary factors
In the following sections we present each of them in greater detail.
2.1 Electric Vehicle (EV) An EV is a motor vehicle that runs, at least partially, on electricity, unlike conventional motor vehicles that run entirely on liquid fuels such as petrol or diesel. An all-electric
car has a rechargeable battery, an electric motor, controllers and a plug for charging. Regenerative braking systems capture the energy that is lost in braking and plough it back to the battery. These components are shown in Figure 7 below. Typically, onboard batteries store the electricity that provides the power for the motor. As the vehicle moves, the battery drains out and needs to be re-energised to provide the required power for continued movement. The distance it is able to travel on a single charge is referred to as its “Range”. This is similar to conventional vehicles, where a fuel storage tank stores a certain amount of energy. After a certain distance of travel, this energy runs out and the fuel tank has to be re-filled. Liquid fuels like petrol and diesel are re-filled at petrol stations and other liquid fuels like CNG can be refueled by exchanging an empty tank with a filled-up tank. Similarly, batteries can re-energised either by charging at fixed charging points or by swapping a discharged battery with a charged one at a swapping station. Electric vehicles can be pure electric (also known as Battery Electric vehicles - BEV), or Hybrid Electric vehicles (HEV) or Plug-in Hybrid vehicles (PHEV) or Fuel Cell Electric vehicles (FCEV). A comparison of the pros and cons of each is shown in Table 4 below. This table also compares conventional vehicles with EVs. More details on each type of EV is at Annexure 3.
Figure 7 The components of an all-electric car
1. Plug Used for plugging electric outlets ar home or at a public charging station. 2. Regenerative Brakes Capture energy lost when braking and store it in battery. 3. Rechargeable Battery Energy storage unit of the car, Built from chemical cells.
1
4 3 2
5
4. Controller and electronics Regulates the supply of power from the battery to the electric motor. 5. Electric Motors Obtains electrical energy from the battery to move the steering and power the vehicle.
Source: Authors
A Guidance Document On Accelerating Electric Mobility in India
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