Electric Formula

With the diminishing supply of fossil fuels paired with the importance of reducing the pollutants that these fuels create, the goal is to research performance along with duty cycles of battery packs used in electric vehicle platforms. Electric vehicles produce no greenhouse emissions on their own, the only emissions produced are in making the electricity. By researching the power demand of an electric vehicle in an urban situation, it can be proved whether a battery powered car is more economically viable versus an internal combustion engine. By creating a controlled lot testing environment with a specially designed track, power output using the cars telemetry will then be tracked and recorded. The cars drive cycle which will consist of speed in (m/s) versus time (s) will make it possible to compare power usage to that of an internal combustion engine. Testing two different chemistries of battery packs Lithium Cobalt Manganese & Lithium Ion Phosphate with varying power densities and outputs as well as two different motor configurations, exploration of the ideal performance specifications for an urban vehicle based on a predetermined drive cycle is possible. The theoretical performance was calculated using formulas connecting speed, acceleration, weight, rolling resistance, and distance travelled to develop a baseline value. Calculation of the vehicles tractive force required to turn the wheels through a drive cycle made it possible to compare theoretical drive numbers with actual drive cycle data. With this drive cycle data, electric vehicles proved to be more efficient