Table of Contents Document SummaryIntroductionHow Electric Vehicles WorkHow Internal Combustion Engines WorkThe Ups and Downs of Electric and Internal Combustion EnginesElectric VehiclesInternal Combustion EnginesConclusionRecommendationsReferencesSummary From the document We see them all people drive a Tesla or a Prius and automatically think "wow, clean energy" or "Zero emissions", but do they really help the environment as much as we think? We all love and want an electric car because of the driving? we all do it, it's the perfect car. The technology in these cars is improving every day, for example the new Teslas can travel up to 370 miles per charge, this is crazy to think as the average American driver drives an estimate of 29.2! miles per day.Say no to plagiarism.Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games shouldn't be banned”?Get the original essayWhen electric vehicles first came out, they were advertised as a way to drive in the country. your daily trips in a simple and efficient way. A way for you to drive every day without ever having to fill up at a gas station. Well, they are starting to gain popularity and everywhere you look you now see electric vehicles. Electric vehicles are sleek and quiet, they keep our air clean, and for many of the short trips we all take, they're the perfect way to get from point A to point B safely, reliably and comfortable. “80% of drivers travel less than 40 miles round trip for their daily commute. » And on top of that, owning an electric vehicle only costs on average half as much as a normal combustion engine. As an automotive student here at Weber State University, this is all we are currently learning. Everyone always talks about how great electric vehicles are and all that. But, in my Chemistry 1010 class, we were talking about where our energy comes from. The energy we use in our daily lives. And what struck me is that most of our energy is produced from fossil fuels. These power plants are a health concern for Utah citizens. After hearing this, it got me thinking: if we are so concerned about cars with internal combustion engines being bad for our environment, why haven't we thought about power plants, hence the Most of these electric cars draw their power.IntroductionIntroduction: We've all seen that person in the Tesla driving around with license plates saying "Zero Emissions" or "Clean Air". We all look and say what a great car, zero emissions and good for our environment. But is it really zero emissions? Context: Electric vehicles must recharge their cars, either at home or at a charging station. All the electricity used to charge the “zero-emission” car comes from somewhere, in our case from Utah. Most of our energy comes from power plants. Power plants are a major concern for Utah citizens. With Salt Lake City now having the lowest air quality in the entire United States, this topic is one we are all now thinking about. Thesis Statement: In this article I will talk about how electric vehicles work, how combustion engines work, how internal combustion engines andElectric vehicles contribute to air pollution and this is best for our environment. How Electric Vehicles Work Electric vehicles have been Since 1832, Robert Anderson developed the first crude electric vehicle, but it was not until the 1870s or later that electric vehicles became practical. And in the 1890s, the first electric vehicles appeared in the United States. Evidence and Citations: Since then, electric vehicles have become more and more practical. Especially after gasoline prices began to skyrocket in the United States in the 1970s, electric vehicles began to become more and more common. Topic sentence: Every electric vehicle works differently. There are three main types of electric vehicles. Battery electric vehicles, also known as BEVs, PHEVs plug in hybrid electric vehicles and PHEVs plug in hybrid electric vehicles. Evidence and Citation: Battery electric vehicles are powered entirely by the battery, with no gasoline or diesel on board, just a battery powering the electric motor. Battery electric vehicles have large capacity batteries that store all the electricity on board. The large capacity battery is used to power the electric motor and all on-board electronics. Battery electric vehicles emit no emissions or dangerous gases caused by your traditional combustion engines. There are three different levels of chargers for these cars, Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. Level 1 is a standard 120V outlet, which people typically install in their homes for an overnight charge that lasts about eight hours . Level 2 is 240V and will take approximately four hours to charge. And finally level 3, currently the fastest charging on the electric vehicle market. Known as fast chargers, they take between thirty minutes and an hour to fully charge. Comment: Some examples of battery electric vehicles are Tesla, Chevy Bolt, Nissan Leaf and many others. Next come plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). Evidence and Citation: Plug-in hybrids run on both gasoline or diesel and have an electric motor powered by a battery that can be recharged by plugging them in. Comment: Some plug-in hybrids are cars like the Chevrolet Volt, and the Toyota Prius. Plug-in hybrids are simple, you can go long distances on just the battery. Once the battery is exhausted it turns on and the conventional engine starts and the car now runs on gas or diesel depending on the car. Finally, there is the hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). Evidence and Citation: Hybrid electric vehicles are powered by both electricity and gasoline. Hybrid electric vehicles use what's called "regenerative braking," a process in which the electric motor helps slow the vehicle and uses some of the energy normally converted to heat by the brakes. cars have done it, it is our gasoline or diesel vehicles that are on the roads. Evidence and Citation: “Internal combustion engines provide exceptional drivability and durability, with more than 250 million U.S. highway transportation vehicles relying on them. » How they work is simple: internal combustion engines use the basic chemical process of releasing energy from a mixture of fuel and air. In an internal combustion engine (ICE), ignition and fuel combustion occur within the engine itself. ThereCombustion inside the cylinders itself is what turns the engine. Combustion propels the piston down, turning the camshaft, then in turn, turning the gears in your transmission, then turning your car's wheels. Evidence and Citation: There are currently two types of internal combustion engines currently in production: the spark-ignition gasoline engine and the compression-ignition diesel engine. Comment: The Spark Ignition gasoline engine introduces gasoline and air as a mixture into the cylinder. Air entering through the air intake system and gasoline entering using the fuel pump and injectors. The mixture of air and fuel in the cylinder is then compressed by the piston and then ignited/sparked by the spark plugs, causing combustion. Combustion, in turn, due to combustion, causes the piston to push downward, rotating the crankshaft. “In a diesel engine, only air is drawn into the engine and then compressed. Diesel engines then spray the fuel into the hot compressed air at an appropriate, measured rate, causing it to ignite. » The ups and downs of electric and internal combustion engines. Electric vehicles. I can't find a good solution. Topic sentence: Electric cars were first introduced to protect our environment. At first, everyone loved them. Zero emissions and you'll never have to fill up with gas, sign me up! Everyone was buying electric vehicles and stopped buying internal combustion vehicles. Evidence and Citations: Electric cars have some disadvantages, such as: Electric cars rely on electricity, which is mainly produced by fossil energy, which can also generate pollution, or by nuclear energy. No one ever spoke or mentioned where the electricity used to charge electric vehicles came from. Depending on where you live it may be different, but here in Utah it's power plants, power plants are a major concern for Utahns. As power plants clean up their electricity grid and now shift to clean, renewable energy, power plants are no longer one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas pollution in the United States. Today, cars, trucks, trains, planes and ships are the main source of greenhouse gases. As you can see in the image above, vehicle exhaust accounts for 78.69% of air pollution here in the state of Utah. Big difference compared to the remaining 13% coming from refineries and large industrial facilities. Evidence and Citations: On average, the cost of owning an electric vehicle is half the price of a normal internal combustion engine, although it will initially cost more. Comment: At Weber State, we have the Tesla Model S as a research vehicle. I interviewed one of my professors, Blair Newborn, who is currently more interested in Tesla than anyone. I asked him what he thought would be more practical for everyday driving, and Blair replied: "If you convert watt-hour per mile to MPGe, most electric vehicles like the Tesla Model S can average 107 to 115 MPGe. Electric vehicles have fewer moving parts and require much less routine maintenance. Ride quality is on par, if not better, than comparable gas-powered vehicles. Tesla vehicles have a very low center of gravity because the battery and drive motors are located very close to the ground. » EnginesInternal Combustion Engines have been around since the mid-1800s. We've all relied on them to get us from point A to point B, with companies using them to power large tractor-trailers to deliver their products. . Internal combustion engines are what we all love and without them our lives would be a mess, forcing us to walk or cycle everywhere. Topic Sentence: Lately everyone has been targeting internal combustion engines because of all the exhaust gases such as nitrogen oxides (NOx). and the particles (PM) they release. Over the past thirty years, internal combustion engines have improved greatly. Evidence and Citations: Manufacturers have reduced internal combustion engine emissions of key pollutants such as NOx and PM by more than 99% to comply with EPA emission standards. Although internal combustion engines have improved significantly, they are still not as efficient as electric vehicles. Blair Newborn said: “If you take our Model S and compare it to a gasoline sedan of the same size, the gasoline sedan will pollute 10 times more over the life of the vehicle. Additionally, electric vehicles emit no tailpipe emissions. From an air quality perspective and an overall environmental perspective, electric vehicles are much better than gasoline vehicles. » ConclusionNow that you have read this, what will you think when you see an electric car? “Zero Emission” or “it’s still bad for our environment because of power plants”. Concluding paragraph: Regardless of what you think now, we have come to the conclusion that although electric vehicles are technically not zero emissions because of power plants. It's still way better than your average vehicle. Electric vehicles are simple: they have a battery that is generally located low and under the car to have a low center of gravity. This battery is in turn used to power the electric motor used to turn the wheels. These cars are amazing if your goal is to drive them daily or even race them. When you drive an electric vehicle daily, you get an average of 100 miles per charge, depending on the model you own. And that's way more than what the average American needs, who typically travel about 29.2 miles per day. If you have electricity at home, you can charge overnight and be ready to hit the road the next morning. Electric cars in specific Teslas, with 0 to 60 mph in just 2.4 seconds in the Tesla Model S Performance. Electric cars will be the future of racing, without having to worry about traction or waiting for your average car's revs to increase. Computers can think and react much faster than we can. When you do it in an internal combustion engine car, you either have too much power and end up spinning your wheels, or you have to wait for your revs to increase to go faster. Electric cars don't have revs, they are on or off. Instant torque and instant traction control. Internal combustion engines are what we all know and grew up with. Even if they can't keep pace with electric car emissions, they will still be widely used in the years to come. Diesel engines are the ones used by all semi-trailers to transport items across the country due to their power. Unlike electric cars which take 30 minutes to 8 hours to recharge, electric cars.