Electric Vehicles: Future of Automobile Industry

By: Sarath M

Petroleum and petroleum products are considered as limited resources for energy, still being utilized in large amounts day by day, which will lead to an end of petroleum resources within a couple of decades. It’s high time to think more seriously about energy management and its utilization. But in the modern world, the number of vehicles and their demand is rising drastically. As the transportation network evolves with technology, now it’s the perfect time to think about electric vehicles instead of ordinary petroleum automobiles. Electric Vehicles (EVs) convert electrical energy stored in a battery to mechanical energy for traction instead of petroleum products. Furthermore, it has a positive impact on the environment compared to combustion engines, which burn petroleum products to run the engine. However, EVs are not getting popular among the public because they have some restrictions like battery charging time, maintenance, battery price, etc. Nevertheless, the research betiding on the area of electric vehicles and automobiles promises to make considerable improvements in comfort, convenience, entertainment, safety, communication, and environmental issues related to the automobile industry. All the advancements made in this area of research prove to be worth it, and many developed nations already have a full-fledged market of electric vehicles. It is surely going to be an era of electric vehicles, and the need for improvements necessitates more research for improved electrical systems.

Remarkable improvements are made in the area of power electronics and motor drives which makes the production and manufacturing of EVs in an economical range. Innovations in power electronic components like power metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), faster switching circuits, high current conducting transistors, high-frequency switches, etc., rise the peak of the EV production graph desperately [1]. In addition to that, improvement in control system and closed-loop arrangements help faster communication and control of different control units. Superior architectures require unused switching and reliability features. Power electronics make the plausibility of integrating switching and fusing capacities into one component with higher unwavering quality [2]. The possibility of executing diverse control strategies on power electronic frameworks is another reason to go away from relay switching. Moreover, by executing integrated sensing techniques in power electronic devices, diagnosis and fault detection gets to be easier to implement [3].

On the other hand, electrical motors development and design contribute a better topology for the design of EVs. The most prerequisites for propulsion motor are ruggedness, high torque to inertia ratio, high torque density, wide speed run, low noise, little or no maintenance, small size, ease of control, and low cost. A few sorts of electric machine advances have been examined for automotive propulsion. These incorporate induction, permanent magnet (PM), switched reluctance, and axial gap machines. Most commercially accessible electric and hybrid vehicles utilize either induction or PM machines for propulsion. Motors with higher torque development and fewer energy losses provide efficient conversion of electrical energy to mechanical energy [4]. Likewise, introducing brushless motors in this area also reduces the losses within the EV electrical motors. Different speed control methods are also developed for motor control like voltage-frequency control, field control, etc., and these motors show better toque-speed characteristics.

The most important and expensive part of EVs is the battery and their management, in which a wide variety of research and innovations are transpiring continuously. During first developed EVs that exclusively uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs, which gradually changes to Lithium-ion battery which are more popular nowadays. Smart battery chargers in EVs help to efficient charging and also in data transfer with the system, which can also communicate with the grid connection will be a future implementation. Electric cars connected to the grid with smart charging make an advantageous interaction with the power grid; they support each other. Without smart charging, this connection wouldn’t exist, and EVs could become a burden on the framework. Cheap, faster charging, more efficient, durable, easily recycle, etc., are the demanding features of a future battery.

Newer technology implementation makes the era of EVs perfect, like introducing the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and management, artificial intelligence (AI), etc. Motor vehicles are getting smarter every day, introducing different sensors, smart switches, relays, safety features, communications, etc. [5]. Auto piloting and auto parking are also being added to the implementation. Safety features including ABS, real-time speed monitoring, and so on are also added to the priority list these days. Establishing newer ideas and technologies helps to make EVs a better choice over their petroleum counterparts[6]. The advancement in the above areas also improves the efficiency and performance of EVs in a short period of time.  

References:

1. Emadi, A., Lee, Y. J., & Rajashekara, K. (2008). Power electronics and motor drives in electric, hybrid electric, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. IEEE Transactions on industrial electronics, 55(6), 2237-2245.
2. Kassakian, J. G. (1996, June). The future of power electronics in advanced automotive electrical systems. In PESC Record. 27th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference (Vol. 1, pp. 7-14). IEEE.
3. Emadi, A., Williamson, S. S., & Khaligh, A. (2006). Power electronics intensive solutions for advanced electric, hybrid electric, and fuel cell vehicular power systems. IEEE Transactions on power electronics, 21(3), 567-577.
4. Emadi, A., Williamson, S. S., & Khaligh, A. (2006). Power electronics intensive solutions for advanced electric, hybrid electric, and fuel cell vehicular power systems. IEEE Transactions on power electronics, 21(3), 567-577.
5. Rajashekara, K. (2013). Present status and future trends in electric vehicle propulsion technologies. IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics, 1(1), 3-10.
6.  Stippich, A., Van Der Broeck, C. H., Sewergin, A., Wienhausen, A. H., Neubert, M., Schülting, P., … & De Doncker, R. W. (2017). Key components of modular propulsion systems for next generation electric vehicles. CPSS Transactions on Power Electronics and Applications, 2(4), 249-258.

Cite this article as:

Sarath M (2021), Electric Vehicles: Future of Automobile Industry, Insights2Techinfo, pp.1

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