WHY EV’S WILL KILL THE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE AUTOMOBILE
May 17, 2021
WHY EV’S WILL KILL THE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE AUTOMOBILE
Electric motor automobiles have been around for a long time. I rode in an electric truck before I was a teenager. It was a Volvo. One day the driver, who was a relative, asked if I would like to take a ride in an electric truck. The second time I rode in an EV was in the late 1990’s in California. GM built a number of electric prototype cars for people to test. The family that my wife Anita and I were visiting was one of the few to get a GM prototype to test for one year.
In late 2019 I read many auto reviews of the Polestar 2 EV, a Volvo brand. Many auto experts from Germany, England, Norway, Canada, Sweden and the US called it the best EV they had ever driven. In 2020 the Polestar 2 won the best car of the year award in five countries including Germany, Norway and Switzerland. The driving range of EV’s are increasing exponentially so I did not want to buy one and decided to lease it. I placed my order in January of 2020 and the car was delivered to Milford on March 2, 2021. The car is incredible. The build quality is impeccable and with all-wheel drive, 408 horsepower and monstrous torque, acceleration is superb. The first service is at 18,000 miles and is basically just an inspection as nothing needs to be replaced.
HERE ARE A FEW REASONS WHY THE ICE AUTOS WILL DIE
There are some 80% fewer parts in an EV compared to an ICE automobile, dramatically reducing maintenance cost. Some of the parts that are not needed in an EV are: transmissions, radiators, fuel pumps, oil pumps, water pumps, oil filters, gas filters, air filters, spark plugs, timing belts, exhaust systems, catalytic converters, oxygen sensors, ignition coils, air flow sensors, evaporative emission control valves, starter motors, starter solenoids, pinion gears to turn the crankshaft when starting, engine block, crankshaft, pistons, oil sump, cylinders, inlet and exhaust valves, etc. The list just goes on and on. There are only about 20moving parts in an EV engine compared to an average of 1600 in ICE autos. The result is that an EV requires hardly any maintenance.
1- An electric motor rotates and therefore is very smooth, which means stress is minimal compared to an ICE; the ICE motor is based on combustion (explosions) in the cylinder forcing the piston down and turning the crankshaft. The crankshaft is the only thing that turns in an ICE, everything else in bang, bang, putting enormous stress on components. The pistons and valves accelerate and stop and return to their original position. The “explosions” in the cylinders generate an enormous amount of heat, and in order to keep the engine from disintegrating, the engine block must be water cooled with a radiator, and to keep the piston rings, cylinder walls and crankshaft from being fried in a few minutes the engine needs a sump with lots of oil and a pump.
2- Electric cars are cheaper to maintain because they need much less service and charging the batteries in New Hampshire is about half the cost of gasoline.
3- Brakes last longer. I found it easy to use one pedal drive, using the engine for braking. You can program most EV’s for one pedal drive or conventional two pedal drive. The benefit of one pedal drive is that when the motor is braking the car, the motor becomes a generator charging the batteries.
4- Battery cost will continue to go down. In 2010 the cost was $1000 per kWh and in 2020 less than $200 per kWh. Researchers are making progress on magnesium batteries. Because our planet contains 3000X more Magnesium than Lithium, Magnesium batteries are much less expensive to produce while providing more power than Lithium batteries. According to experts, Magnesium batteries also don’t burn like Lithium batteries.
5- Driving range will increase. I have been averaging 295 miles per charge, but in the near future many EV’s will have a range of 500 miles.
6- Going electric is also one of the many things we need to do to save our planet for future generations.
Len