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Electric cars on NewMobile.com? But an EV isn’t a mobile phone, is it! Well, ‘car’ stands for ‘automobile’. And on NewMobile.com, we limit ourselves solely to EVs. They also have a battery and a display screen. So they’re practically smartphones on wheels.

Electric car brands

The number of brands with one or more electric cars in their range can (thankfully) no longer be counted on the fingers of one hand. Virtually every self-respecting brand has one or is working on one. Some popular electric car brands are:

EV history

Electric cars are older than most people realise. Some of the very first cars already had an electric powertrain. They usually used a lead-acid battery for this, as it was easy and cheap to manufacture. Electric cars were mainly popular in towns and cities where electricity was readily available. Outside urban areas, electric cars were a rare sight. Eventually, fossil fuel-powered internal combustion engines came to dominate the market due to their lower costs and longer range. From 1915 onwards, fully electric cars virtually disappeared from the market.

It was only after the oil crisis of the 1970s and the realisation that CO₂ emissions contribute to global warming that interest in the electric powertrain began to grow again. By then, numerous new technologies were also available, including lithium batteries. Toyota capitalised on this trend by introducing the Prius in 1997: a car featuring both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. This hybrid powertrain significantly reduced fuel consumption. The Prius was therefore not fully electric.

The GM EV1, introduced a year earlier, was fully electric, but ultimately only a thousand units were sold. In that respect, the Tesla Roadster, introduced in 2008, fared better, although no more than 2,500 units of that model were sold either. Nevertheless, it proved to be the starting point for the enormous growth that electric cars were to experience, partly because other manufacturers launched their own models: Nissan with the Leaf, Renault with the Zoe and BMW with the i3. Not to mention the sales success of the Tesla Model 3.

How an electric car works

An electric car is powered by one or more electric motors. The energy required for this comes from the battery. By choosing sustainable electricity generated by solar panels or wind turbines whilst charging, it is possible to drive emission-free. Of course, emissions are produced during the manufacture of an electric car.

Types

In the motoring world, you’ll come across various classifications, ranging from fully electric to not electric at all. The most common types are:

BEV / FEV: Battery / Full Electric Vehicle (100% electric)
PHEV: Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (petrol car with a plug)
BAHV: Battery Assisted Hybrid Vehicle (Mild Hybrid, a petrol car without a plug)
FCEV: Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (hydrogen car)
ICE: Internal Combustion Engine (car running on petrol, diesel or LPG)

Different types of battery

Most electric cars have a lithium-ion battery. These types of batteries consist of a cathode (+), an anode (-) and a liquid electrolyte through which ions can move. The advantages of Li-ion are its high energy density, low weight and long service life. The disadvantage is that cobalt is required for production, and its extraction is not environmentally friendly and is associated with human rights abuses.

The search is therefore on for new types of battery. Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO₄ or LFP) in particular is emerging as a strong contender to succeed Li-ion. This type does not use cobalt. Solid-state technology is also a promising technique, but it has not yet proven itself.

Charging

An empty battery needs to be charged. The most logical place to do this is at home. This can be done using a standard 230V socket and a ‘Granny’ charger (Mode 2). However, this isn’t very quick. A charging point offers a solution. It can handle higher power output and has a suitable plug. The type of plug you need depends on your car.

You can charge whilst on the move at a public charging point or a fast-charging point. The latter are usually found at the side of the motorway. Fast chargers operate on direct current, can deliver more power and therefore charge a battery more quickly. In the Netherlands, there are several providers of fast-charging stations, including Fastned. Some manufacturers have their own network of fast chargers, of which Tesla’s Supercharger is the best known.

The type of plug used to charge your car varies by make, but the most common are:

CCS: Combined Charging System
CHAdeMO
Tesla plug
Type 1 (Yazaki)
Type 2 (Mennekes)