An introduction to the motor inside your electric vehicle
The heart of any electric vehicle is the motor. There’s a wealth of information out there on how electric motors work and you can even build a simple electric motor using a D-cell battery, a magnet and some wire. These DIY projects seem relatively simple but it turns out that trying to understand how this scales up to make your car go isn’t so straightforward. If, like me, you have a general, hazy understanding of electromagnets, induction and knowledge of how to operate a car you may well have struggled to find a good resource that explains how an electric vehicle works. Here’s what I learned from trying to teach myself by reading around the subject and talking with some really smart people.
I remember making an electric motor in school. Since these motors are directly connect to the battery, they use direct current (DC) to turn the motor which is a little different to the way the motor inside your electric vehicle works. Much like the traditional internal combustion engine an electric vehicle still needs to deliver sufficient torque and power, both of which need to be carefully controlled and there are some key differences between how these things are delivered when compared to an internal combustion engine.
Electric vehicles on the road today use alternating current (AC) to turn the motor. This is a key difference…
