The Dixie Flyer was an automobile built in Louisville, Kentucky from 1916 until 1923. Dixie Flyers were marketed under the slogan of "The Logical Car." They may be classified as Brass Era cars or vintage cars .
90-572: The origins of the company can be traced back to 1878, when the Kentucky Wagon Manufacturing Company was established. In 1912, the local Electric Vehicle Company was acquired, which marked the entrance of Kentucky Wagon into the automotive field. An electric car called the Kentucky Electric was planned, but did not come to pass. Erroneously, some lists of old automobiles list the Kentucky Electric from
180-496: A generator or a fuel cell . Compared to conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric cars are quieter, more responsive, have superior energy conversion efficiency and no exhaust emissions , as well as a lower overall carbon footprint from manufacturing to end of life (even when a power plant supplying the electricity might add to its emissions). Due to the superior efficiency of electric motors, electric cars also generate less waste heat , thus reducing
270-448: A motor in each wheel hub or next to the wheels; this is rare but claimed to be safer. Electric vehicles that lack an axle , differential , or transmission can have less drivetrain inertia. Some direct current motor -equipped drag racer EVs have simple two-speed manual transmissions to improve top speed. The concept electric supercar Rimac Concept One claims it can go from 0–97 km/h (0–60 mph) in 2.5 seconds. Tesla claims
360-426: A 2020 study, balancing lithium supply and demand for the rest of the century will require good recycling systems, vehicle-to-grid integration, and lower lithium intensity of transportation. Some activists and journalists have raised concerns over the perceived lack of impact of electric cars in solving the climate change crisis compared to other, less popularized methods. These concerns have largely centered around
450-406: A combination of propylene glycol and ethylene glycol. While air-cooled engines primarily rely on air to regulate temperature, many also use oil cooling to help maintain optimal temperatures for both engine components and the oil itself. Most liquid-cooled engines use some air cooling, with the intake stroke of air cooling the combustion chamber. An exception is in a Wankel engine , where some parts of
540-430: A flat torque curve down to zero speed. For simplicity and reliability, most electric cars use fixed-ratio gearboxes and have no clutch. Many electric cars have faster acceleration than average ICE cars, largely due to reduced drivetrain frictional losses and the more quickly-available torque of an electric motor. However, NEVs may have a low acceleration due to their relatively weak motors. Electric vehicles can also use
630-450: A future mobility vision called Autonomous, Connected, Electric and Shared (ACES) Mobility. The term "electric car" typically refers specifically to battery electric vehicles (BEVs) or all-electric cars, a type of electric vehicle (EV) that has an onboard rechargeable battery pack that can be plugged in and charged from the electric grid , and the electricity stored on the vehicle is the only energy source that provide propulsion for
720-608: A heat exchanger that is cooled by the body of water. Most liquid-cooled engines use a mixture of water and chemicals such as antifreeze , rust inhibitors, and other additives. These antifreeze mixtures, also known as "engine coolant," are typically glycol-based fluids that contain a mixture of ethylene glycol , additives, and water. Common types of coolants include Inorganic Acid Technology (IAT), Organic Acid Technology (OAT), and Hybrid Organic Acid Technology (HOAT) fluids. Some antifreezes use no water at all, instead relying on liquids with different properties, such as propylene glycol or
810-509: A hybrid vehicle, while 31% of younger respondents do not consider hybrid vehicles a good option. 35% would rather opt for a petrol or diesel vehicle, and 24% for an electric car instead of a hybrid. In the EU, only 13% of the total population do not plan on owning a vehicle at all. Electric motors can provide high power-to-weight ratios . Batteries can be designed to supply the electrical current needed to support these motors. Electric motors have
900-405: A liquid coolant run through a heat exchanger ( radiator ) cooled by air. Marine engines and some stationary engines have ready access to a large volume of water at a suitable temperature. The water may be used directly to cool the engine, but often has sediment, which can clog coolant passages, or chemicals, such as salt which can chemically damage the engine. Thus, engine coolant may be run through
990-441: A liquid-cooled engine might dump heat from the engine to a liquid, heating the liquid to 135 °C (water's standard boiling point of 100 °C can be exceeded as the cooling system is both pressurised, and uses a mixture with antifreeze) which is then cooled with 20 °C air. In each step, the liquid-cooled engine has half the temperature difference and so at first appears to need twice the cooling area. However, properties of
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#17327796124881080-453: A long period from the very beginning and ending with a small and generally unrecognized technical change. Before World War II , water-cooled cars and trucks routinely overheated while climbing mountain roads, creating geysers of boiling cooling water. That was considered normal, and at the time, most noted mountain roads had auto repair shops to minister to overheating engines. ACS (Auto Club Suisse) maintains historical monuments to that era on
1170-566: A reversible heat pump , such as on the Nissan Leaf. PTC junction cooling is also attractive for its simplicity—this kind of system is used, for example, in the 2008 Tesla Roadster. To avoid using part of the battery's energy for heating and thus reducing the range, some models allow the cabin to be heated while the car is plugged in. For example, the Nissan Leaf, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Renault Zoe and Tesla cars can be pre-heated while
1260-778: A similar configuration, but the cylinders also continually rotate, creating an air flow even when the vehicle is stationary. Aircraft design more strongly favors lower weight and air-cooled designs. Rotary engines were popular on aircraft until the end of World War I , but had serious stability and efficiency problems. Radial engines were popular until the end of World War II , until gas turbine engines largely replaced them. Modern propeller-driven aircraft with internal-combustion engines are still largely air-cooled. Modern cars generally favor power over weight, and typically have water-cooled engines. Modern motorcycles are lighter than cars and both cooling methods are common. Some sport motorcycles were cooled with both air and oil ( sprayed underneath
1350-401: A slight effect, having to work over such a wide range of speeds that its impeller has only a minimal effect as a pump. While running the leaking pump seal drained cooling water to a level where the pump could no longer return water to the top of the radiator, so water circulation ceased and water in the engine boiled. However, since water loss led to overheat and further water loss from boil-over,
1440-407: A solution found. Previous radiators and engine blocks were properly designed and survived durability tests, but used water pumps with a leaky graphite -lubricated "rope" seal ( gland ) on the pump shaft. The seal was inherited from steam engines, where water loss is accepted, since steam engines already expend large volumes of water. Because the pump seal leaked mainly when the pump was running and
1530-534: A thermodynamic point of view due to higher operating temperature. The worst problem met in air-cooled aircraft engines was the so-called " shock cooling ", when the airplane entered in a dive after climbing or level flight with throttle open, with the engine under no load while the airplane dives generating less heat, and the flow of air that cools the engine is increased, a catastrophic engine failure may result as different parts of engine have different temperatures, and thus different thermal expansions. In such conditions,
1620-642: A time. Similarly, it is usually desirable to minimize the number of heat transfer stages in order to maximize the temperature difference at each stage. However, Detroit Diesel two-stroke cycle engines commonly use oil cooled by water, with the water in turn cooled by air. The coolant used in many liquid-cooled engines must be renewed periodically and can freeze at ordinary temperatures thus causing permanent engine damage when it expands. Air-cooled engines do not require coolant service, and do not suffer damage from freezing, two commonly cited advantages for air-cooled engines. However, coolant based on propylene glycol
1710-439: Is a relatively poor coolant, but air cooling systems are simple, and failure rates typically rise as the square of the number of failure points. Also, cooling capacity is reduced only slightly by small air coolant leaks. Where reliability is of utmost importance, as in aircraft, it may be a good trade-off to give up efficiency, longevity (interval between engine rebuilds), and quietness in order to achieve slightly higher reliability;
1800-468: Is also employed in maritime vehicles (vessels, ...). For vessels, the seawater itself is mostly used for cooling. In some cases chemical coolants are also employed (in closed systems) or they are mixed with seawater cooling. The change of air cooling to liquid cooling occurred at the start of World War II when the US military needed reliable vehicles. The subject of boiling engines was addressed, researched, and
1890-416: Is difficult to make generalizations about air-cooled and liquid-cooled engines. Air-cooled diesel engines are chosen for reliability even in extreme heat, because air-cooling would be simpler and more effective at coping with the extremes of temperatures during the depths of winter and height of summer, than water cooling systems, and are often used in situations where the engine runs unattended for months at
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#17327796124881980-423: Is essential: it guides heat through the engine, much as a water wheel works only if there is some exit velocity (energy) in the waste water to carry it away and make room for more water. Thus all heat engines need cooling to operate. Cooling is also needed because high temperatures damage engine materials and lubricants and becomes even more important in hot climates. Internal-combustion engines burn fuel hotter than
2070-724: Is liquid to −55 °C, colder than is encountered by many engines; shrinks slightly when it crystallizes, thus avoiding damage; and has a service life over 10,000 hours, essentially the lifetime of many engines. It is usually more difficult to achieve either low emissions or low noise from an air-cooled engine, two more reasons most road vehicles use liquid-cooled engines. It is also often difficult to build large air-cooled engines, so nearly all air-cooled engines are under 500 kW (670 hp ), whereas large liquid-cooled engines exceed 80 MW (107000 hp) ( Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C 14-cylinder diesel). Cars and trucks using direct air cooling (without an intermediate liquid) were built over
2160-407: Is lower; however, for higher production, a dedicated platform may be preferred to optimize design, and cost. In the EU and US, but not yet China, the total cost of ownership of recent electric cars is cheaper than that of equivalent gasoline cars, due to lower fueling and maintenance costs. A 2024 Consumer Reports analysis of 29 car brands found Tesla was the least expensive to maintain; Tesla
2250-409: Is needed on non-exhaust particulates. The sourcing of fossil fuels (oil well to gasoline tank) causes further damage as well as use of resources during the extraction and refinement processes. Depending on the production process and the source of the electricity to charge the vehicle, emissions may be partly shifted from cities to the plants that generate electricity and produce the car as well as to
2340-484: Is propelled by an electric traction motor , using electrical energy as the primary source of propulsion . The term normally refers to a plug-in electric vehicle , typically a battery electric vehicle (BEV), which only uses energy stored in on-board battery packs , but broadly may also include plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), range-extended electric vehicle (REEV) and fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), which can convert electric power from other fuels via
2430-572: The Electric Storage Battery Company of Philadelphia . During the 20th century, the main manufacturers of electric vehicles in the United States included Anthony Electric, Baker, Columbia, Anderson, Edison, Riker, Milburn, Bailey Electric , and Detroit Electric . Their electric vehicles were quieter than gasoline-powered ones, and did not require gear changes. Six electric cars held the land speed record in
2520-737: The European Union , as of 2020, the total cost of ownership of recent electric vehicles is cheaper than that of equivalent ICE cars, due to lower fueling and maintenance costs. In 2023, the Tesla Model Y became the world's best selling car. The Tesla Model 3 became the world's all-time best-selling electric car in early 2020, and in June 2021 became the first electric car to pass 1 million global sales. Together with other emerging automotive technologies such as autonomous driving, connected vehicles and shared mobility, electric cars form
2610-642: The Ford Model T , led to a decline. ICE cars' much quicker refueling times and cheaper production costs made them more popular. However, a decisive moment came with the introduction in 1912 of the electric starter motor that replaced other, often laborious, methods of starting the ICE, such as hand-cranking . In the early 1990s the California Air Resources Board (CARB) began a push for more fuel-efficient, lower-emissions vehicles, with
2700-603: The International Energy Agency (IEA). China currently has the largest stock of electric vehicles in the world , with cumulative sales of 5.5 million units through December 2020, although these figures also include heavy-duty commercial vehicles such as buses , garbage trucks and sanitation vehicles , and only accounts for vehicles manufactured in China. In the United States and
2790-591: The Susten Pass where two radiator refill stations remain. They have instructions on a cast metal plaque and a spherical bottom watering can hanging next to a water spigot. The spherical bottom was intended to keep it from being set down thus being useless around the house, in spite of which it was stolen, as the picture shows. During that period, European firms such as Magirus-Deutz built air-cooled diesel trucks, Porsche built air-cooled farm tractors and Volkswagen became famous with air-cooled passenger cars. In
Dixie Flyer (automobile) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2880-700: The chassis . The Shadburne Brothers acquired the company for a very brief period in 1917, but ownership quickly reverted to Kentucky Wagon. The Firefly speedster of 1922 was the sportiest Dixie Flyer, unfortunately, it was their last new model as well. The post-World War I recession claimed another victim in the Dixie Car company. Truck production was also discontinued at this time; however, wagons were still produced for almost another decade. Dixie Flyer, National and Jackson , were all merged into Associated Motor Industries and Corporation in 1923. Dixie Flyers and Jacksons were henceforth discontinued. Many of
2970-742: The recharging infrastructures (especially those with fast chargers ) are still in its relative infancy, range anxiety and time cost are frequent psychological obstacles against electric cars during consumer purchasing decisions . Worldwide, 10 million plug-in electric cars were sold in 2022, a total of 14% of new car sales, up from 9% in 2021. Many countries have established government incentives for plug-in electric vehicles , tax credits, subsidies, and other non-monetary incentives while several countries have legislated to phase-out sales of fossil fuel cars , to reduce air pollution and limit climate change . EVs are expected to account for nearly one-fifth of global car sales in 2023, according to
3060-404: The waste heat from an internal combustion engine . For small or special purpose engines, cooling using air from the atmosphere makes for a lightweight and relatively simple system. Watercraft can use water directly from the surrounding environment to cool their engines. For water-cooled engines on aircraft and surface vehicles, waste heat is transferred from a closed loop of water pumped through
3150-412: The 19th century. The last of them was the rocket-shaped La Jamais Contente , driven by Camille Jenatzy , which broke the 100 km/h (62 mph) speed barrier by reaching a top speed of 105.88 km/h (65.79 mph) in 1899. Electric cars remained popular until advances in internal-combustion engine (ICE) cars and mass production of cheaper gasoline- and diesel -powered vehicles, especially
3240-564: The EV company Togg is starting production of its electric vehicles. Batteries will be created in a joint venture with the Chinese company Farasis Energy . The most expensive part of an electric car is its battery. The price decreased from €605 per kWh in 2010, to €170 in 2017, to €100 in 2019. When designing an electric vehicle, manufacturers may find that for low production, converting existing platforms may be cheaper, as development cost
3330-491: The Hercules name, but the Hercules instead formed the nucleus of the new Dixie Flyer in 1916. All cars had four- cylinder engines , originally supplied by Lycoming and later by Herschell-Spillman . Two distinctive features of early Dixie Flyers were their vertical windshields that were integrated into the curved cowl dash, and the spring-mounted radiators . This latter feature was to reduce vibration, as well as strain on
3420-698: The Kentucky Wagon company in this period. The sole electric automotive product of the company was the Urban Electric truck , produced from 1912 to 1916. In 1914, the Hercules Motor Car Company of New Albany across the Ohio River contracted with Kentucky Wagon to build bodies for their cars. Hercules went out of business in 1915, with its assets acquired by Kentucky Wagon. There appear to have been plans to continue
3510-689: The United States, Franklin built air-cooled engines. For many years air cooling was favored for military applications as liquid cooling systems are more vulnerable to damage by shrapnel . The Czech Republic –based company Tatra is known for their large displacement air-cooled V8 car engines; Tatra engineer Julius Mackerle published a book on it. Air-cooled engines are better adapted to extremely cold and hot environmental weather temperatures: you can see air-cooled engines starting and running in freezing conditions that seized water-cooled engines and continue working when water-cooled ones start producing steam jets. Air-cooled engines possibly have an advantage from
3600-416: The amount needed for lubrication, sprayed upwards onto the bottom of the piston just for extra cooling. Air-cooled motorcycles often rely heavily on oil-cooling in addition to air-cooling of the cylinder barrels. Liquid-cooled engines usually have a circulation pump. The first engines relied on thermosiphon cooling alone, where hot coolant left the top of the engine block and passed to the radiator, where it
3690-432: The best selling all-electric car at that time. Starting in 2008, a renaissance in electric vehicle manufacturing occurred due to advances in batteries, and the desire to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and to improve urban air quality . During the 2010s, the electric vehicle industry in China expanded rapidly with government support. Several automakers marked up the prices of their electric vehicles in anticipation of
Dixie Flyer (automobile) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3780-587: The car is charged. Cost savings are also affected by the price of gasoline which can vary by location. Electric cars have several benefits when replacing ICE cars, including a significant reduction of local air pollution, as they do not emit exhaust pollutants such as volatile organic compounds , hydrocarbons , carbon monoxide , ozone , lead , and various oxides of nitrogen . Similar to ICE vehicles, electric cars emit particulates from tyre and brake wear which may damage health, although regenerative braking in electric cars means less brake dust. More research
3870-560: The car when parked; two models of the 2010 Toyota Prius include this feature as an option. The safety issues of BEVs are largely dealt with by the international standard ISO 6469. This document is divided into three parts dealing with specific issues: Research published in the British Medical Journal in 2024 indicates that between 2013 and 2017 in the United Kingdom, electric cars killed pedestrians at twice
3960-427: The center of gravity, increasing driving stability, lowering the risk of an accident through loss of control. Additionally, a lower center of gravity provides a greater resistance to roll-over crashes. If there is a separate motor near or in each wheel, this is claimed to be safer due to better handling. Internal combustion engine cooling Internal combustion engine cooling uses either air or liquid to remove
4050-430: The combustion chamber are never cooled by intake, requiring extra effort for successful operation. There are many demands on a cooling system. One key requirement is to adequately serve the entire engine, as the whole engine fails if just one part overheats. Therefore, it is vital that the cooling system keep all parts at suitably low temperatures. Liquid-cooled engines are able to vary the size of their passageways through
4140-420: The compressor of a turbo and in the inlet trumpets and the inlet valves need to be as cold as possible. A countercurrent heat exchanger with forced cooling air does the job. The cylinder-walls should not heat up the air before compression, but also not cool down the gas at the combustion. A compromise is a wall temperature of 90 °C. The viscosity of the oil is optimized for just this temperature. Any cooling of
4230-461: The consequences of a broken airplane engine are so severe, even a slight increase in reliability is worth giving up other good properties to achieve it. Air-cooled and liquid-cooled engines are both used commonly. Each principle has advantages and disadvantages, and particular applications may favor one over the other. For example, most cars and trucks use liquid-cooled engines, while many small airplane and low-cost engines are air-cooled. It
4320-528: The coolant (water, oil, or air) also affect cooling. As example which compares water and oil as coolants, one gram of oil can absorb about 55% of the heat for the same rise in temperature (called the specific heat capacity ). Oil has about 90% the density of water, so a given volume of oil can absorb only about 50% of the energy of the same volume of water. The thermal conductivity of water is about four times that of oil, which can aid heat transfer. The viscosity of oil can be ten times greater than water, increasing
4410-494: The coolant flow when too cool. In addition, the motor, coolant, and heat exchanger have some heat capacity which smooths out temperature increase in short sprints. Some engine controls shut down an engine or limit it to half throttle if it overheats. Modern electronic engine controls adjust cooling based on throttle to anticipate a temperature rise, and limit engine power output to compensate for finite cooling. Finally, other concerns may dominate cooling system design. As example, air
4500-418: The cooling system is designed to vary cooling so the engine is neither too hot nor too cold. Cooling system regulation includes adjustable baffles in the air flow (sometimes called 'shutters' and commonly run by a pneumatic 'shutterstat'); a fan which operates either independently of the engine, such as an electric fan, or which has an adjustable clutch; and a thermostatic valve or a thermostat that can block
4590-451: The electrical energy from the grid to power at the wheels. Electric motors are more efficient than internal combustion engines in converting stored energy into driving a vehicle. However, they are not equally efficient at all speeds. To allow for this, some cars with dual electric motors have one electric motor with a gear optimised for city speeds and the second electric motor with a gear optimised for highway speeds. The electronics select
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#17327796124884680-424: The energy required to pump oil for cooling, and reducing the net power output of the engine. Comparing air and water, air has vastly lower heat capacity per gram and per volume (4000) and less than a tenth the conductivity, but also much lower viscosity (about 200 times lower: 17.4 × 10 Pa·s for air vs 8.94 × 10 Pa·s for water). Continuing the calculation from two paragraphs above, air cooling needs ten times of
4770-519: The engine block so that coolant flow may be tailored to the needs of each area. Locations with either high peak temperatures (narrow islands around the combustion chamber) or high heat flow (around exhaust ports) may require generous cooling. This reduces the occurrence of hot spots, which are more difficult to avoid with air cooling. Air-cooled engines may also vary their cooling capacity by using more closely spaced cooling fins in that area, but this can make their manufacture difficult and expensive. Only
4860-424: The engine may seize, and any sudden change or imbalance in the relation between heat produced by the engine and heat dissipated by cooling may result in an increased wear of engine, as a consequence also of thermal expansion differences between parts of engine, liquid-cooled engines having more stable and uniform working temperatures. Today, most automotive and larger IC engines are liquid-cooled. Liquid cooling
4950-532: The engine to the surrounding atmosphere by a radiator . Water has a higher heat capacity than air, and can thus move heat more quickly away from the engine, but a radiator and pumping system add weight, complexity, and cost. Higher-power engines generate more waste heat, but can move more weight, meaning they are generally water-cooled. Radial engines allow air to flow around each cylinder directly, giving them an advantage for air cooling over straight engines , flat engines , and V engines . Rotary engines have
5040-418: The engine was hot, the water loss evaporated inconspicuously, leaving at best a small rusty trace when the engine stopped and cooled, thereby not revealing significant water loss. Automobile radiators (or heat exchangers ) have an outlet that feeds cooled water to the engine and the engine has an outlet that feeds heated water to the top of the radiator. Water circulation is aided by a rotary pump that has only
5130-466: The exhaust and the turbine of the turbocharger reduces the amount of power available to the turbine, so the exhaust system is often insulated between engine and turbocharger to keep the exhaust gasses as hot as possible. The temperature of the cooling air may range from well below freezing to 50 °C. Further, while engines in long-haul boat or rail service may operate at a steady load, road vehicles often see widely varying and quickly varying load. Thus,
5220-550: The existence of less carbon-intensive and more efficient forms of transportation such as active mobility , mass transit and e-scooters and the continuation of a system designed for cars first. A 2022 survey found that 33% of car buyers in Europe will opt for a petrol or diesel car when purchasing a new vehicle. 67% of the respondents mentioned opting for the hybrid or electric version. More specifically, it found that electric cars are only preferred by 28% of Europeans, making them
5310-434: The first electric car some time between 1832 and 1839. The following experimental electric cars appeared during the 1880s: Electricity was among the preferred methods for automobile propulsion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, providing a level of comfort and an ease of operation that could not be achieved by the gasoline-driven cars of the time. The electric vehicle fleet peaked at approximately 30,000 vehicles at
5400-428: The first may be over-cooled and the last under-cooled. However, once water boils, it is an insulator, leading to a sudden loss of cooling where steam bubbles form. Steam may return to water as it mixes with other coolant, so an engine temperature gauge can indicate an acceptable temperature even though local temperatures are high enough that damage is being done. An engine needs different temperatures. The inlet including
5490-400: The fixed parts of the engine, such as the block and head, are cooled directly by the main coolant system. Moving parts such as the pistons, and to a lesser extent the crankshaft and connecting rods , must rely on the lubrication oil as a coolant, or to a very limited amount of conduction into the block and thence the main coolant. High performance engines frequently have additional oil, beyond
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#17327796124885580-471: The goal of improving efficiency by reducing heat loss. The engines are variously called adiabatic engines, due to better approximation of adiabatic expansion, low heat rejection engines, or high-temperature engines. They are generally diesel engines with combustion chamber parts lined with ceramic thermal barrier coatings. Some make use of titanium pistons and other titanium parts due to its low thermal conductivity and mass. Some designs are able to eliminate
5670-523: The high investment required to develop the charging and swapping infrastructure, and a market penetration far lower than originally predicted. The Mitsubishi i-MiEV , launched in 2009 in Japan, was the first highway-legal series production electric car, and also the first all-electric car to sell more than 10,000 units. Several months later, the Nissan Leaf , launched in 2010, surpassed the i MiEV as
5760-663: The infrastructure on a country-by-country basis. In January 2008, Better Place announced a memorandum of understanding with Renault-Nissan to build the world's first Electric Recharge Grid Operator (ERGO) model for Israel. Under the agreement, Better Place would build the electric recharge grid and Renault-Nissan would provide the electric vehicles . Better Place filed for bankruptcy in Israel in May 2013. The company's financial difficulties were caused by mismanagement, wasteful efforts to establish toeholds and run pilots in too many countries,
5850-478: The last Dixie Flyers were converted to Nationals by simply exchanging the Dixie radiator emblems and hubcaps with National ones. In June 2010 a restored 1922 Dixie Flyer was returned from Melbourne, Australia to Louisville, where it will be displayed at Kentucky Trailer, the successor business to Kentucky Wagon. Electric car An electric car or electric vehicle ( EV ) is a passenger automobile that
5940-492: The least preferred type of vehicle. 39% of Europeans tend to prefer hybrid vehicles , while 33% prefer petrol or diesel vehicles . 44% Chinese car buyers, on the other hand, are the most likely to buy an electric car, while 38% of Americans would opt for a hybrid car, 33% would prefer petrol or diesel, while only 29% would go for an electric car. Specifically for the EU , 47% of car buyers over 65 years old are likely to purchase
6030-523: The melting temperature of engine materials, and hot enough to set fire to lubricants. Engine cooling removes energy fast enough to keep temperatures low so the engine can survive. Some high-efficiency engines run without explicit cooling and with only incidental heat loss, a design called adiabatic . Such engines can achieve high efficiency but compromise power output, duty cycle, engine weight, durability, and emissions. Most internal combustion engines are fluid cooled using either air (a gaseous fluid) or
6120-494: The milestone of 1 million global sales in June 2021. In the third quarter of 2021, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation reported that sales of electric vehicles had reached six percent of all US light-duty automotive sales, the highest volume of EV sales ever recorded at 187,000 vehicles. This was an 11% sales increase, as opposed to a 1.3% increase in gasoline and diesel-powered units. The report indicated that California
6210-495: The motor that has the best efficiency for the current speed and acceleration. Regenerative braking , which is most common in electric vehicles, can recover as much as one fifth of the energy normally lost during braking. Combustion powered cars harness waste heat from the engine to provide cabin heating, but this option is not available in an electric vehicle. While heating can be provided with an electric resistance heater, higher efficiency and integral cooling can be obtained with
6300-577: The need for engine cooling systems that are often large, complicated and maintenance-prone in ICE vehicles. The electric vehicle battery typically needs to be plugged into a mains electricity power supply for recharging in order to maximize the cruising range . Recharging an electric car can be done at different kinds of charging stations ; these charging stations can be installed in private homes , parking garages and public areas . There are also research and development in other technologies such as battery swapping and inductive charging . As
6390-470: The occupants of a lighter vehicle; therefore, the additional weight brings safety benefits to the occupant, while increasing harm to others. On average, an accident will cause about 50% more injuries to the occupants of a 2,000 lb (900 kg) vehicle than those in a 3,000 lb (1,400 kg) vehicle. Heavier cars are more dangerous to people outside the car if they hit a pedestrian or another vehicle. The battery in skateboard configuration lowers
6480-422: The original water loss was hidden. After isolating the pump problem, cars and trucks built for the war effort (no civilian cars were built during that time) were equipped with carbon-seal water pumps that did not leak and caused no more geysers. Meanwhile, air cooling advanced in memory of boiling engines even though boil-over was no longer a common problem. Air-cooled engines became popular throughout Europe. After
6570-588: The piston heads ). Heat engines generate mechanical power by extracting energy from heat flows, much as a water wheel extracts mechanical power from a flow of mass falling through a distance. Engines are inefficient, so more heat energy enters the engine than comes out as mechanical power; the difference is waste heat which must be removed. Internal combustion engines remove waste heat through cool intake air, hot exhaust gasses, and explicit engine cooling. Engines with higher efficiency have more energy leave as mechanical motion and less as waste heat. Some waste heat
6660-465: The purchase price of electric cars and other plug-ins. As of 2020 , the electric vehicle battery is more than a quarter of the total cost of the car. Purchase prices are expected to drop below those of new ICE cars when battery costs fall below US$ 100 per kWh, which is forecast to be in the mid-2020s. Leasing or subscriptions are popular in some countries, depending somewhat on national taxes and subsidies, and end of lease cars are expanding
6750-420: The rate of petrol or diesel vehicles because "they are less audible to pedestrians in urban areas". Jurisdictions have passed laws requiring electric vehicles to be manufactured with sound generators. The weight of the batteries themselves usually makes an EV heavier than a comparable gasoline vehicle. In a collision, the occupants of a heavy vehicle will, on average, suffer fewer and less serious injuries than
6840-417: The same temperature desired for engine cooling. This has an advantage in that it absorbs a great deal of energy with very little rise in temperature (called heat of vaporization ), which is good for keeping things cool, especially for passing one stream of coolant over several hot objects and achieving uniform temperature. In contrast, passing air over several hot objects in series warms the air at each step, so
6930-454: The second hand market. In a June 2022 report by AlixPartners, the cost for raw materials on an average EV rose from $ 3,381 in March 2020 to $ 8,255 in May 2022. The cost increase voice is attributed mainly to lithium, nickel, and cobalt. Electricity almost always costs less than gasoline per kilometer travelled, but the price of electricity often varies depending on where and what time of day
7020-457: The subsidy adjustments, including Tesla, Volkswagen and Guangzhou-based GAC Group, which counts Fiat, Honda, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, and Toyota as foreign partners. In July 2019 US-based Motor Trend magazine awarded the fully-electric Tesla Model S the title "ultimate car of the year". In March 2020 the Tesla Model 3 passed the Nissan Leaf to become the world's all-time best-selling electric car, with more than 500,000 units delivered; it reached
7110-423: The surface area, therefore the fins, and air needs 2000 times the flow velocity and thus a recirculating air fan needs ten times the power of a recirculating water pump. Moving heat from the cylinder to a large surface area for air cooling can present problems including difficulties manufacturing the shapes needed for good heat transfer and the space needed for free flow of a large volume of air. Water boils at about
7200-451: The transportation of material. The amount of carbon dioxide emitted depends on the emissions of the electricity source and the efficiency of the vehicle. For electricity from the grid , the life-cycle emissions vary depending on the proportion of coal-fired power , but are always less than ICE cars. The cost of installing charging infrastructure has been estimated to be repaid by health cost savings in less than three years. According to
7290-536: The turn of the 20th century. In 1897, electric cars first found commercial use as taxis in Britain and in the United States. In London, Walter Bersey 's electric cabs were the first self-propelled vehicles for hire at a time when cabs were horse-drawn. In New York City, a fleet of twelve hansom cabs and one brougham , based on the design of the Electrobat II , formed part of a project funded in part by
7380-526: The ultimate goal of a move to zero-emissions vehicles such as electric vehicles. In response, automakers developed electric models. These early cars were eventually withdrawn from the U.S. market, because of a massive campaign by the US automakers to discredit the idea of electric cars. California electric-auto maker Tesla Motors began development in 2004 of what would become the Tesla Roadster , first delivered to customers in 2008. The Roadster
7470-473: The upcoming Tesla Roadster will go 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) in 1.9 seconds. Internal combustion engines have thermodynamic limits on efficiency, expressed as a fraction of energy used to propel the vehicle compared to energy produced by burning fuel. Gasoline engines effectively use only 15% of the fuel energy content to move the vehicle or to power accessories; diesel engines can reach on-board efficiency of 20%; electric vehicles convert over 77% of
7560-497: The vehicle is plugged in. Some electric cars (for example, the Citroën Berlingo Electrique ) use an auxiliary heating system (for example gasoline -fueled units manufactured by Webasto or Eberspächer) but sacrifice "green" and "Zero emissions" credentials. Cabin cooling can be augmented with solar power external batteries and USB fans or coolers, or by automatically allowing outside air to flow through
7650-540: The war, Volkswagen advertised in the US as not boiling over, even though new water-cooled cars no longer boiled over, but the cars sold well. But as air quality awareness rose in the 1960s and laws governing exhaust emissions were passed, unleaded gas replaced leaded gas and leaner fuel mixtures became the norm. Subaru chose liquid-cooling for their EA series (flat) engine when it was introduced in 1966. A special class of experimental prototype internal combustion piston engines have been developed over several decades with
7740-475: The wheels. The term generally refers to highway-capable automobiles, but there are also low-speed electric vehicles with limitations in terms of weight, power and maximum speed that are allowed to travel on public roads. The latter are classified as Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) in the United States , and as electric motorised quadricycles in Europe . Robert Anderson is often credited with inventing
7830-480: Was cooled before returning to the bottom of the engine. Circulation was powered by convection alone. Other demands include cost, weight, reliability, and durability of the cooling system itself. Conductive heat transfer is proportional to the temperature difference between materials. If engine metal is at 250 °C and the air is at 20 °C, then there is a 230 °C temperature difference for cooling. An air-cooled engine uses all of this difference. In contrast,
7920-557: Was the US leader in EV with nearly 40% of US purchases, followed by Florida – 6%, Texas – 5% and New York 4.4%. Electric companies from the Middle East have been designing electric cars. Oman's Mays Motors have developed the Mays i E1 which is expected to begin production in 2023. Built from carbon fibre, it has a range of about 560 km (350 miles) and can accelerate from 0–130 km/h (0–80 mph) in about 4 secs. In Turkey,
8010-673: Was the first highway-legal all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells, and the first production all-electric car to travel more than 320 km (200 miles) per charge. Better Place , a venture-backed company based in Palo Alto, California , but steered from Israel , developed and sold battery charging and battery swapping services for electric cars. The company was publicly launched on 29 October 2007 and announced deployment of electric vehicle networks in Israel , Denmark and Hawaii in 2008 and 2009. The company planned to deploy
8100-652: Was the only all-electric brand included. The greater the distance driven per year, the more likely the total cost of ownership for an electric car will be less than for an equivalent ICE car. The break-even distance varies by country depending on the taxes, subsidies, and different costs of energy. In some countries the comparison may vary by city, as a type of car may have different charges to enter different cities; for example, in England , London charges ICE cars more than Birmingham does. Several national and local governments have established EV incentives to reduce
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