Analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of Tesla’s electric vehicle battery technology

Tesla’s electric car’s entry into the Chinese market has recently made headlines. What is special about Tesla? Does this fit the development trend of automobiles? How safe is it? As an engineer who has worked for the three major US automobile companies (Ford, GM, and Chrysler), I want to share my opinion Tesla’s view.

Before we discuss Tesla, let’s briefly introduce electric vehicles. “Electric vehicles” as used in this article refer to pure electric vehicles with automatic power, excluding hybrid vehicles and externally powered vehicles (such as trams).

Similar to human walking, electric motors and lithium batteries are the heart of energy output, while the central transmission system is the bones and muscles for energy transmission, which ultimately drive the casters forward. As shown in the picture above, both electric cars and gasoline cars have a heart, bones, muscles and feet, but the energy transmission methods are different.

Analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of Tesla’s electric vehicle battery technology

Electric cars have no exhaust gas

There are many advantages of electric vehicles:

The first is energy saving. As we all know, traditional cars are driven by petroleum. Compared with other important energy sources, oil reserves are small and non-renewable. Although experts have been arguing about how much oil still needs to be extracted in recent decades, the indisputable fact is that oil reserves are dwindling, and production has now reached its peak. Motorists facing rising oil prices will also agree with this view.

At the same time, due to the inconsistency between important oil producing countries (Middle East, Russia, and Central Asia) and important oil consuming countries (U.S., Western Europe, and East Asia), there have been fierce political, economic and even military competitions for oil for decades. The struggle for control. This issue is also very important to our country. In 2013, China surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest oil importer, and its dependence on foreign oil was close to 60%. Therefore, the development of electric vehicles and reducing dependence on oil are of great significance to China’s economic and geopolitical security.

Electric cars use secondary electricity. There are a wide range of sources of electricity, including renewable water, wind, solar, and potentially nuclear energy, as well as coal, which is much more abundant than oil. Therefore, if electric vehicles become popular, they will not only greatly change people’s lifestyles, but also the global geopolitical pattern.

The second benefit of electric vehicles is that they help combat smog. Automobile exhaust is an important source of urban smog. Now, various countries have stricter and stricter regulations on automobile exhaust emissions. However, electric vehicles do not emit exhaust gas during driving, which has obvious advantages in controlling urban air pollution. In terms of total pollution, although there is pollution caused by coal-fired power generation, large power plants use more electricity than loose diesel locomotives and can be assembled to reduce emissions.

The third point is transmission and control advantages, which are related to some characteristics of electric vehicle transmissions. For example, gasoline engines working at thousands of degrees Celsius and dozens of atmospheres require complex manufacturing technology and operating skills, as well as a chaotic and smooth system and cooling system that continuously releases the heat of burning precious gasoline into the atmosphere . The engine needs regular maintenance and oil changes. The engine transfers energy to the wheels through a messy gearbox, drive shaft and gearbox. Most of the transmission process is realized through hard joints of metal gears and bearings. Everything requires a messy manufacturing process and a simple glitch (think how many manufacturers have recalled automatic transmissions)…

Electric cars do not have these problems. Batteries and electric vehicle batteries generate heat, but heat dissipation is much simpler than internal combustion engines. The power conversion of electric vehicles should not be messy and fragile, using hard connections and flexible wires. The operation of electric vehicles is relatively simple, because the operation technology of the electric system is more complicated.

For example, many people know that electric cars are faster than gasoline cars. This is because the regulation power of the engine is lower than that of the internal combustion engine. Another example is that instead of controlling the speed of each wheel, an electric car can relatively simply install an independent motor on each wheel. Therefore, the steering will start to jump. Because of transmission problems