Electric Future : Blog

We need to be honest. There is no such thing as a completely green car. It might run clean and produce no harmful emissions. But the way it’s manufactured and the impact its batteries have on the environment are certainly far from being perfectly green. Across their full life cycle, EVs are more environmentally friendly than their internal combustion engine (ICE) counterparts and, once they’re on the market, they will contribute significantly to a drop in carbon dioxide emissions. But to make them as green as possible, we need to make sure that:  

ePropelled recently participated in the the UAS Summit & Expo—a yearly event that is the epicenter of drone research. The event brings together industry thought leaders, policymakers, and end-users from the commercial, government, and military sectors, and we are proud to have been a part of it.  

In the constant battle between range, weight, torque, and battery size, conventional EV motor design seems to be lagging when it comes to inventiveness. Traditional permanent magnet brushless motors can provide variable speed outputs, with their motors generating high torque at low speeds and high speed at low torque levels. However, the range of speed and torque characteristics may not be sufficient to cover the desired range, even if the output power of the motor is sufficient. 

ePropelled recently participated in another Virtual UAV Manufacturers Meet Up, organized by MicroPilot. The event offered participants two days of webinars and discussions on subjects most relevant to the industry.  

In October, Rho Motion—a company specializing in vehicle markets and economics, and providing forecasts and analyses for the energy transition—organized a seminar series seminar series focused on EV batteries and motors.  

All types of UAVs need a portable power source to keep their flight control system operational for long and steady flights and, as a result, the market is faced with a growing need for more efficient and lighter designs.  

Electrical power systems are critical to a UAV’s design and operation. But they don’t operate in a vacuum. Their weight, operating temperature, and efficiency of the power components have a major influence on performance parameters such as flight duration, payload, operating ceiling, and range. 

Our participation in a panel session at CENEX-Low Carbon Vehicle (LCV2021) elicited some serious interest and we’re more confident than ever that our system will change the fate of electric propulsion.  

The battery pack is the most expensive component of the entire electric vehicle. According to BloombergNEF, the average cost was $137/kWh at the end of 2020. Although the estimates can vary, averaging 30% of the total cost of the vehicle, even moderate savings to this component would have a huge impact on the overall cost of the car manufacture and price.  However, more recent analyses predict that the prices will start going up again due to the rapidly growing demand for EVs. 

Most high-tech goods tend to get cheaper as they are manufactured at increasing volumes, but only up to a point. The electric vehicle industry is growing, but its sudden and dramatic early growth means that matching earlier savings will be difficult, and the law of diminishing returns has set in as shown by the flattening curves.