Electric vehicle

An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle propelled mostly by electric power. EVs encompass electric cars and other electric road vehicles (buses, trucks and personal transporters) as well as other types of land vehicles, such as electric rail vehicles (trains, trams and monorails). It also includes electric watercraft (boats and submersibles), aircraft (fixed-wing and multirotors), and spacecraft. EVs originated in the late 19th century. Electricity was among the preferred methods for powering early motor vehicles because it was quieter, provided comfort, and ease of operation. However, its limited range hindered mass adoption throughout the 20th century. Internal combustion engines were the dominant propulsion mechanisms for cars and trucks for about 100 years, although electricity-powered locomotion became commonplace in other vehicle types, such as overhead line-powered mass transit vehicles, as well as special purpose vehicles such as mobility scooters. Since the late 20th century, technological advances in lithium batteries—which offer superior energy density and current output versus lead-acid batteries—has revived public interest as zero-emission vehicle options. Manufacturers mostly switched to hybrids that use internal combustion engines like conventional vehicles, but add electric motors as a supplement, powered by electricity produced internally by motor-generators and recovered from regenerative braking. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, which can be recharged from an electric grid and use electric motors as the primary propulsion rather than as a supplement to combustion engines, did not see any mass production until the late 2000s, and battery electric cars did not become practical options for the consumer market until the 2010s. Although spacecraft have been propelled by electricity since the 1960s, non-rocket spacelaunch from Earth remains science fiction. Technological progress in electric vehicle batteries, electric traction motors and automotive electronics (particularly electronic control units) has made electric cars more feasible and, in some cases, more cost-efficient than conventional ICE vehicles...