Electric Cars

How do electric cars work? Starting from the ground up, electric motors are the basis for electric cars. What is an electric motor? How does an electric motor work? This video will explain the fundamentals of electric motors, including an overview of the "left hand motor rule" which is the basic principle that explains how motors work. Using a magnet and a flowing current through a wire, an electric motor can be created.

Okay, so we have the basics, but now electric motors don't quite make sense. Magnets are the basis for electric motors, so we'll need to understand them next. Fundamentally, magnets can be explained through quantum mechanics. This video will explain it in a bit easier fashion. Magnets basically boil down to the magnetic fields produced by electrons, due to the electrons spin. An electron's spin is an intrinsic property. When electrons of equal spin line up, they form larger magnets. In some rare earth metals, this can occur naturally. Most minerals and molecules have paired electrons with opposite spin, so the magnetic fields cancel out. Magnets are the driving factor of how motors work.

So now lets talk about how you can create a magnetic field without a permanent magnet, and by using a current instead. Electromagnets use an electrical current in order to produce magnetic poles. The operate just like permanent magnets, however they require the presence of a flowing current. By passing a current through a wound coil of wire, north and south magnetic poles will form.

Now that we have a better understanding of electric motors, let's take a more detailed look at how they operate. 3 Coil DC motors will be explained in this video. Direct current motors use a direct current, passing through wire coils wrapped around armatures on a motor rotor to produce magnetic fields (electromagnets). These electromagnets are surrounded by permanent magnets, which cause the rotor to rotate when a current pass through it.

Finally, we can begin to understand electric cars. Electric cars use electric motors to power the vehicle, rather than an internal combustion engine. The result is a vehicle that produces no emissions, requires little maintenance, and is extremely cheap to recharge. With advances in lithium ion batteries, electric cars are becoming more and more popular.

Hopefully this provides a good basis for understanding electric cars. Feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel for upcoming videos relating to electric vehicles, and other automotive topics.
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