Electric Vehicles Why do you plug them In?

Question

I dont understand Why electric cars have such a short range before they have to be recharged. Why isnt there a massive alternator that is ran off the elctric motor that powers the car that intern recharges the battery?

Answer 1

Similar strategies involve running a wind turbine to charge up the battery. But drawing power from your battery to power an alternator, with or without the  wind turbine, will take more power from the battery than it provides.

Yes, you could have a wind turbine that you put up to capture passing wind when you are stopped but it might tip your car over. You could cover the car with solar cells that would recharge the battery in a couple days or more.

But, if you put those solar cells on your house it would cost less and give more power, and be useful for other things.

Answer 2

actually todays Electric cars can get up to and over 200 miles per charge. thats more than some cars get on an entire tank of gas. the tesla roadster gets that. that old myth that they can only get 10 miles doing 20 mph just doesn't hold water anymore

Answer 3

That would be a perpetual motion machine.  They can't exist.

Answer 4

Study your physics. U can not get more power than what u put in. Each time u change from mechanical to electrical will cost u about 40%....

Answer 5

This is just a theory, because I really don't know, But wouldn't it take more work to turn a larger alternator. More work means more power expended which means that efficiency goes down. The problem is the energy yield of the alternator. I think a better way to compensate would be to have solar panels installed also.

Answer 6

Electric cars have short ranges relative to gasoline cars because typical batteries don't hold very much energy compared to a tank of gas.  They can output huge amounts of power (see the Killacycle videos!) but not for very long.

Your alternator suggestion would put less into the battery than you took out.  Look up "law of conservation of energy".  However, you can use an alternator instead of brakes to slow down; that's called "regenerative braking", and both electrics and hybrids benefit from it.