Picture the charging process of a battery like an empty bus that allows many people to board at the same time and then has a harder time letting others in as it gets more and more crowded.
We've all experienced this situation with our cell phones, scratching our heads in disbelief and frustration when the battery runs empty just like that even after charging over night.
In similar fashion, an electric car battery has a charging curve: Bringing it to 80% can take a mere 30 minutes, while the remaining 20% require several hours of additional charging. For obvious marketing purposes, automakers talk about the available range of their electric cars with a full charge, yet they stress how it takes just half an hour to charge a battery back to 80% of its capacity.
Following the electrons...
When driving an electric car, electrons leave the battery to activate the electric motor. More precisely, they flow around the circuit toward the negative end inside the battery, pushed by a chemical reaction, and toward the positive end in the outside circuit, pushed by the electrical voltage.
If the battery is hooked up to something with a bigger voltage difference, like a battery charger for example, the electrons will flow in the other direction.
Here's a video that details the battery in the Chevrolet Volt:
Sources:
www.utc.fr (thesis)
www.hydroquebec.com (charging stations guide)
We've all experienced this situation with our cell phones, scratching our heads in disbelief and frustration when the battery runs empty just like that even after charging over night.
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| Mitsubishi i-MIEV (Photo: Mitsubishi) |
In similar fashion, an electric car battery has a charging curve: Bringing it to 80% can take a mere 30 minutes, while the remaining 20% require several hours of additional charging. For obvious marketing purposes, automakers talk about the available range of their electric cars with a full charge, yet they stress how it takes just half an hour to charge a battery back to 80% of its capacity.
Following the electrons...
When driving an electric car, electrons leave the battery to activate the electric motor. More precisely, they flow around the circuit toward the negative end inside the battery, pushed by a chemical reaction, and toward the positive end in the outside circuit, pushed by the electrical voltage.
If the battery is hooked up to something with a bigger voltage difference, like a battery charger for example, the electrons will flow in the other direction.
Here's a video that details the battery in the Chevrolet Volt:
Sources:
www.utc.fr (thesis)
www.hydroquebec.com (charging stations guide)