Charging Forward

This article outlines the challenges for automobile engineers in designing electric-drive vehicles. Understanding the way noise travels differently through an electric-drive vehicle is one of the main challenges for engineers as they design this new generation of vehicles. Moreover, bodies and chassis are evolving away from traditional sheet metal to more exotic materials, and consequently, the whole production process is being re-engineered. The power density of even the best battery is small when compared to the chemical energy in an identical volume of gasoline. Hence, electric vehicles (EVs) can at most eke out only around 100 miles per charge. Overcoming that challenge is the subject of decades-long research projects. The lithium-ion batteries found in most EVs generate so much heat in use that they require their own cooling systems. Temperatures of all cells within the battery pack also must be held within a few degrees of each other, lest internal current loops form that may slash battery life. Some other issues include cost, service life, and safety.