GLOBAL TRENDS
Electric
CARS 101
Electric cars are probably something you’ve heard more and more about in
recent times. There’s no denying that they are a huge part of the future of the
motor world—with the world going green and all. MotorHub is playing its part
in the Global shift towards greener motoring by publishing this article…your
part, to brace yourself as we introduce you to electric cars.
E
lectric cars are automobiles
propelled by one or more
electric motors using electrical energy stored in batteries or
another energy storage device.
Many believe electric cars are a recent development yet as a matter
of fact, they first hit the streets as
early as the 1880’s. Why did they
fall off the face of the earth, well,
they were overwhelmingly inefficient in terms of energy conversion and energy storage and/or
range. In 2008 however, a resurgence in EV manufacture occurred
due to advances in batteries and
power management, increasing oil
prices, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and concerns
of dependence on the Middle
Eastern oil producing countries
by Western governments. As of
November 2014, the number of
mass production highway-capable all-electric passenger cars and
utility vans in the market is limited to over 30 models, mainly in
the US, Japan, Western European
countries and China. The world’s
top selling highway-capable electric car ever is the Nissan Leaf,
released in December 2010, with
global sales of over 150,000 units
by November 2014. EV manufacturing is a growing trend in the moMotorHub Magazine
tor world which would explain why
all major car makers have joined in;
BMW i3, Nissan Leaf, Tesla, Toyota
RAV4 EV, Ford Focus electric…
Mercedes SLS AMG Coupe
The electric car that sets the performance standards for all the
rest would have to be the Mercedes SLS AMG Coupe--offering
740 hp, all-wheel drive and a body
that looks like liquid metal. Mercedes went to extensive lengths
to make sure the electron powered SLS AMG lost nothing on its
gas powered double.
Power comes from a levee of Lithium ion batteries developed with
the help of Mercedes Formula 1
engineers, packed into the tunnel
where the driveliness and transmission used to reside. Using 2
electric motors on each axle, Mercedes programmed the SLS AMG
so that each wheel can be spun
and braked independently which
makes for impressive handling.
With 60kWh of battery storage
(the same as the mid-range version of the Tesla Model S), Mercedes says the SLS AMG Electric
drive can travel about 155 miles
on charge. Its price tag, a staggering $536,804. To put this in
perspective, $536,804 can buy
9
you an Audi Q7, Land cruiser 2015
and two Range Rovers for the kids,
with enough money left over for
420,000 liters of fuel.
$
536,804
can
buy you an Audi
Q7, Land cruiser
2015 and two Range
Rovers for the kids,
with enough money
left over for 420,000
liters of fuel.
You would have to burn through
40 liters every day for 30 years
to get through that amount.
So, with such a ridiculous price
tag, no sane (read “humbly
rich”) person would buy this.
…Options?
Not all hope is lost though, a
company, Tesla Motors (named
after physicist Nikola Tesla) in
2009 designed the Tesla Model S, a much more affordable
luxury sedan. This is by far the
most practical Electric Vehicle available on the market
today. Pricing starts as low as
$50,000 with a range of 320km
per charge, the best part, it
can charge to 80% in under 30
minutes.
February 2015 Issue