My New Car Is Electric!

What Is It Like Living With An Electric Car? How Electric Cars Work
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Related Videos: (Formula E Series)

The latest addition to the Engineering Explained garage is an electric car! In the United States, electric cars make up less than 2% of the overall market, yet that number has nearly doubled since 2013. That is to say, the electric car revolution is coming, and I'll be experiencing life with an electric car before the majority of folks make the jump.

While in today's world electric cars don't make perfect sense for every scenario, they do offer plenty of advantages over gasoline or diesel powered cars. They have instant acceleration when you put your foot down, peak torque from zero RPM, they're far more energy efficient - meaning you spend less on "refilling the tank," and they don't have any emissions. This makes EVs great for city environments where travel distances are relatively short, and congestion is high. Check out the video for more information on the EV series I'm starting with Formula E!

Electric Car Basics:

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NEW VIDEO EVERY WEDNESDAY!

[EngineeringExplained]

Different and new will always be criticized! I think there's no exception among car enthusiasts either. With less than 2% of cars on the road being EVs, most of us base our opinions on EVs without having spent much time in one (myself included). There aren't many cars I don't get excited about, and I hope you're as excited as I am to learn more about EVs - the good, and the not so good! While the smartest decision for an automotive channel might be to get into a supercar or something exotic, I'll continue to quietly draw on my whiteboard and try out cars which march to the beat of a different drum. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I do, and for sure leave your suggestions below for things you'd like to know more about in the EV world! Here are a few examples of the last series' topics:

[chrisfix]

I feel like an electric car is right up your alley and actually living with the car will give you a real experience of what it is like to have one. I cannot wait for you to share your experience with us! It is something I am truly curious about and who better to get the info from than Engineering Explained!!

[strangeclouds]

I like how immediately when the video started you showed the Leaf.. you didn't click bait us the whole video making us wonder which car you got.

[axepython]

He just explained what thrid derivatives are and no one fell asleep. Amazing!

[HeidiandFranny]

Did you get a quick charge station installed in your garage? Can you cover that at some point? What did they do to the Leaf to reduce weight? Seems like there would be a lot of opportunities to shed liquid and solid weight. Can you show the increase in home electrical usage? We have been thinking about something like ths as well. Thanks for the video! F

[Joecoolboyz]

I'm a firefighter. EVs represents a new challenge for us in public safety. I've heard a lot of different things concerning EV (e.g. You wont get shocked if you cut the big orange cable, the real threat when dealing with an EV is not securing it properly).

You probably don't typically deal with these topics but I thought I'd throw it out there to see if you would tackle it. You make good evidence based points when you teach on these topics. I appreciate the videos.

[AddyNv]

I would really like to see a dyno run of the leaf.

[vinniemadrox]

I'm very curious, if you don't mind testing (since you will have the vehicle for long term), could you see the minimum battery range? They say 150mi per charge, assuming that's if you are driving the vehicle sensably and not using all the electronics on max all the time. I'm curious what the full spectrum of use could be. From heavy accessory use (lights, AC, radio, etc), to heavy acceleration, daily driving the very light throttle, no accessories, etc. Heavy user/hot rodding, to hypermiling, if you will. I'm very curious what the range of, well, range lol, this leaf has.

[TheSeanUhTron]

The new Leaf is a pretty good improvement over the previous generation, but I still don't like that they don't have active thermal management for their batteries. Nissan even states in the owners manual to 'Not store your car in hot environments', which is just absurd. It also recommends to not charge up right after driving, which is also absurd. Long road trips require quick chargers, which stress the battery a lot, and no one wants to wait several hours for their battery to cool down.

In my personal opinion. If you're not going to lease the car, get a Tesla Mode 3 or Chevy Bolt. Both of those cars have better range and thermal management for their batteries.

[LegitStreetCars]

Very cool, Congrats! I've been daily driving a Chevy Volt for four years and it's been awesome. It almost pays for itself in fuel savings, and is just so nice to drive especially in Chicago traffic. You will love it!

[glow]

I am a psychologist, and my question is the impact this car has on your opinion of combustion engines - after you have driven an electric car for a long period of time. How does your mindset change about filling up your car with gas, after not having to? How does your mindset change when it comes to the power delivery of a combustion engine, as compared to an electric engine? Are you going to appreciate the power delivery of a combustion engine more or less - after using an electric car for an extended period of time?

I think those are key questions a lot of people are going to be wondering about.

Congrats! in advance...Great Idea for this Video!

[CarToneHK]

The big problem of electric car isn't really its range, more the time it takes to get the range back, refueling a car is so much faster than charging one

[darinkzx]

I may consider one when traxxas introduces a 1:1 scale rustler or slash.

[Rollermanfromspace]

props to you Jason, you started with a whiteboard in a small room and now you're teaming up with a racing series to produce educational videos. Keep up the good work!

[gvxclassics]

I purchased a used smart ForTwo electric in december 2016. I purchased it for $7000 and did buy and installed a charging station. Although I can see no increase in my electric bill, I track time on the charger and know the 20A charging rate and cost per kWH. My smart is costing me 3.3 cents per mile. I have data to back this up. I love the car, leave anyone I want at the traffic lights, with snappy acceleration available all the way to 82 MPH, which it can cruise at for extended periods, comfortably. Its a solid teeny little car that drives better than any MG I ever drove (I had an MGB and MGC-GT). I love the quiet driving, and open my windows and I feel like I'm on my bicycle, just wind noise is very relaxing. Car has been totally reliable, with only wipers and brakes showing wear at 42, 000 miles. No oil changes, no direct FI issues...

[RBDelorme]

My Chevy Bolt has 150 kW of power and current Formulat-E has 180 kW. I can now say I have almost the same power as a Formula car!!!

[SarahnTuned]

Could you film a trackday/autocross video with the leaf to see how it compares against other cars at the track, as well as how it affects the range?

[MattMaranMotoring]

Congrats Jason! Really curious to hear what it's like to live with over the next 6 months! I'd be interested to see how much your range decreases as it gets colder, if it does at all.

[callumfitzpatrick]

Questions for you to address:
The original Nissan Leaf has a terrible reputation for battery life as they had no temperature management and suffered parasitic reactions. Explain how the new Leaf has addressed this.

Many e-skateboarders and drones have brushless motors, what are the differences between brushed DC, AC and BLDC.

What other tech is out there after lithium batteries ?

I guess this is part of your transmission piece, but what is 'kv' in an electric motor?

Why are solar panels useless on a car, like the Karma had?

[jezmun]

I ran a UK spec Leaf Tekna (24kw, heat pump hvac) for two years (2014 to 2016)and 20k miles - it really is a great experience and a good car, my average petrol equivalent figure was 156 mile per gallon measured over the 24 months ownership. Servicing was simple and no parts replaced, notably break pads with next to no wear. The negatives became these, the UK sales increased and public 'fast' service stations became overloaded, when someone charges the car they could be having a coffee or an afternoon shopping, do you wait or go! Either way its not the same experience as filling up at the petrol station where you would wait only minutes.
The infrastructure is the key for without it a truly good car and experience is marred.