What Are Electric Vehicles and How Do Electric Cars Work?

Kia EV5 side view

Uncover the essentials of electric vehicles with Kia. Learn how EVs work and why they’re revolutionising transportation.

Electric cars can seem futuristic and revolutionary but they look and drive just like regular petrol & diesel powered cars - but with one key difference. Instead of an engine, a pure electric vehicle (EV) uses a battery pack to power an electric motor, which turns the wheels. This makes them quieter to drive and likely to be more reliable due to less moving parts.

Electric cars use a large, rechargeable battery to store electrical charge received from an electrical power source. This in turn, is used to power an electric motor, which then drives the wheels. Multiple electrical components work behind the scenes to ensure the right amount of power is delivered to driven wheels according to the prevailing driving conditions.

Is there a difference between the term EV and an electric car? No, they are one and the same. EV has simply become a popular acronym for electric vehicle, which is another term for electric car.

Types of electric vehicles

There are various designs of electric cars, each with their own unique features and benefits but generally speaking there are three main types:

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV)

This is the purest form of electric driving because power comes solely from a large, rechargeable battery pack. BEVs don’t rely on a secondary power source, like a petrol/diesel internal combustion engine, so they don’t produce any tailpipe emissions. The battery is recharged with electricity by plugging it into a public charging station, AC wall box or into an AC power socket at home.

BEVs can be simply known as ‘electric vehicles’ and are also referred to as pure electric vehicles and all-electric vehicles. The Kia Niro EV, EV5, EV6 and EV9 are all Battery Electric Vehicles.

Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV)

Unlike a BEV or PHEV, Hybrid Electric Vehicles don’t need to be plugged in to recharge their batteries. Instead they use a small battery pack to power an electric motor that works in conjunction with an internal combustion engine. The battery is so small it can be charged by the petrol-engine, or through regenerative braking, meaning a HEV is ‘self charging’ as you drive.

HEVs, which are also known simply as ‘hybrids’, generally cannot drive on electric power alone but they do bring notable gains in fuel economy by sharing some of the workload of the engine with the electric motor.

Kia Sportage Hybrid

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV)

PHEVs use both an electric motor and a combustion engine to drive the wheels. This gives them the ability to drive solely on electric power or, when the battery is depleted, to rely on the petrol engine. This offers the best of both worlds – electric power on shorter commutes and the flexibility of petrol-power for longer drives.

PHEVs generally use a smaller battery than pure electric cars (BEVs), however as the name implies they can still be plugged in to recharge.

Kia Sorento Hybrid

How do electric cars work?

The beauty of electric cars is that while they might sound complicated, they’re actually wonderfully simple. Electric vehicles have fewer moving parts than petrol-powered cars and require somewhat less maintenance. They also don’t use engine oil, meaning no pesky oil changes.

Electric cars are also far more efficient at converting their stored energy into power. Where a petrol engine only converts between 10 and 30 percent of the energy it creates into forward momentum, an EV utilises far higher percentage of its power at the wheels.

To better understand how an electric car works, it can be broken down to a few key components. When combined, the below elements make up an ‘electric powertrain’, which are of the key high-voltage parts that power an EV.

Inverter

The inverter is the crucial link between the rechargeable battery and the electric motor. Battery packs are only able to receive power in Direct Current (DC) form, whereas AC electric motors are generally used on EVs (more efficient than DC motors) will typically only function if that power is converted into Alternating Current (AC). That’s the primary function of the inverter; converting DC into AC.

Electric motor

With the power now converted into Alternating Current, the AC electric motor provides the power that actually turns the wheels. Electric motors are beautifully simple: an electric current is used to create a rotating electromagnetic field, which causes the motor to turn. Electric motors aren’t only smaller than most combustion engines, they’re also incredibly responsive, giving drivers instant acceleration.

Charging port

The charging port provides access for a power source to deliver its energy into an EV’s rechargeable battery. Charging ports can be found at the front, side or rear of an electric car and most are capable of receiving energy from different types of chargers.

A public charger for example, might supply an EV with a more powerful DC charge and shorter charging time, whereas a home AC charger will deliver its energy at a lower cost, albeit more slowly. Most electric cars also include a charging cable that can plug into a conventional 240-volt home outlet, although that rate of charge will be slower again.

In Australia, Kia EVs are compatible with Type 2 CCS chargers only. You can check battery charge level through indicator lights near the charging port, Kia Connect app on your compatible smartphone, or through the dashboard screen where available.

Explore Kia Electric Cars

EV9

7 Seat Upper Large SUV

EV6

5 Seat Crossover Large SUV

EV5

5 Seat Mid-size SUV

EV3

Small SUV - Coming Soon

Sportage Hybrid

5 Seat Mid-size SUV

Sorento Hybrid

7 Seat Large Family SUV

Niro Hybrid

Urban Small SUV

The whole new levels of peace of mind

At speeds of 20 km/h or higher, BCW alerts you if a vehicle enters your blind spot, even when you are in the process of changing lanes. LED warnings flash on the door mirror and an audio warning is emitted when you signal to make a lane change.