Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Cars

You can install a 240V charging station at home, and simply plug the car into the charging station. There are thousands of 120V and 240V public charging stations all over the country, and there’s a growing number of even higher power fast-charging stations around the country. Many, but not all, electric vehicles are equipped to accept a high power fast charge. An electric vehicle, sometimes also called a battery electric vehicle is a car with an electric motor and battery, fueled only by electricity. The Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S are examples of an electric vehicle. Many automakers currently offer or will soon offer plug-in hybrid models.

Another term you may hear when discussing AC electricity is frequency. The frequency of the signal is the number of complete wave cycles completed during one second of time. Frequency is measured in Hertz and in the United States the standard power-line frequency is 60 Hz.

On the next page, we'll explore another technology attempting to extract energy from cars. There was a time when debates surrounding speed bumps revolved around whether or not a community needed speed bumps to slow down drivers on a certain road. Now, a new key issue is making its way into the discussion -- the question of whether or not speed bumps can actually harvest unused energy from a car. There was a time, not too long ago that “billion dollar corporations who do not want someone taking their profits away will find a way to stop it”.

The first-life defines the lifespan of the battery's intended use, while the second-life defines the lifespan of the battery's subsequent use-case. Lithium-ion batteries from cars can sometimes be re-used for a second-life in factories or as stationary batteries. Some electric vehicle manufacturers, such as Tesla, claim that a lithium-ion battery that no longer fulfills create electricity by driving a car the requirements of its intended use can be serviced by them directly, thereby lengthening its first-life. Reused electric vehicle batteries can potentially supply % of the grid-scale lithium-ion energy storage by 2030. The carbon footprint of an electric vehicle lithium-ion battery can be reduced by up to 17% if reused rather than immediately retired.

EVs are mechanically simpler, which reduces the use and disposal of engine oil. It’s true that manufacturing an EV can use more energy than a conventional car, largely due to the manufacture of lithium ion batteries. More than a third of the carbon pollution created by an EV over its lifetime does come from its manufacture. However, if you look at the entire life cycle of the vehicle, an electric car ultimately creates fewer emissions than its gas-powered counterpart. A recent analysis in the Wall Street Journal compared the life cycle of a Tesla Model 3 to a Toyota Rav 4.

A 1000 watt, pure sine wave inverter can be purchased from Walmart for about $400. Then you need a set of heat-proof booster cables for prolonged use under the hood (about $100), and finally, you need a weather-proof housing that also allows for ventilation. If you’re an industrious, DIY-er who loves saving money above all else, you could definitely build your own CarGenerator; you’ll save about $150, providing your time isn’t worth anything. For the rest of us, who value our time and want an easy, proven solution, CarGenerator is simply the best possible option for worry-free, temporary power.

Grid storage is slowly expanding, but most electricity has to be used as it is produced. Fuel cell cars are powered by compressed hydrogen gas that feeds into an onboard fuel cell “stack” that doesn’t burn the gas, but instead transforms the fuel’s chemical energy into electrical energy. Tailpipe emissions are zero, and the only waste produced is pure water. Electric motors are an essential component of electric cars that convert electrical energy into mechanical energy to move the wheels, where neodymium magnets are commonly used in the manufacturing process. There is currently no cost-effective way for the industry to recycle electric motors due to the complicated extraction process of these magnets. Many electric motors end up in the landfill or are shredded because there is no viable recycle or disposal alternative.