Smart electric vehicles could drive HK towards cleaner air and better efficiency
Our city's skies are often choked with smog, but a switch to EVs would significantly cut pollution
Cars powered by diesel or petrol are one of the main sources of air pollution. They definitely decrease the air quality of our living environment.
Meanwhile, the conversion rate of chemical energy from diesel or petrol cars to kinetic energy is only around 30 per cent.
Is a better transportation tool available for reducing vehicle emissions and improving the efficiency of energy conversion? Yes. Electric vehicles (EVs), including battery electric vehicles (BEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) can do
the job.
An EV is defined as a vehicle that has an electric motor as one of the propulsion devices, or the motor converting electrical energy into mechanical energy.
EVs take electrical energy from the battery tank, which significantly reduces gas emissions. BEVs and FCEVs produce very little gas emissions. An HEV has low levels of emission because not all of its energy comes from the battery.
Since electric motors normally have high efficiency – up to 90 per cent – EVs are more efficient than the traditional internal combustion engine in cars. In addition, EVs can be handled better than traditional vehicles.
EVs can be further developed to fulfil different purposes, becoming smart EVs.
If EVs are integrated with some intelligent features, they will become a moving smart device. For instance, a smart EV can be installed with a plug for home charging and discharging, a tablet computer for vehicle-to-human connection, an intelligent controller for automatic driving, a strong vertical electric engine for flying, and other sensors or devices for smart operation.
Very soon, EVs will become an integrated, moveable smart vehicle. They will not only be installed with a motor and battery for high-efficient energy conversion and utilisation, they will also have intelligent features for vehicle-to-human operation.
Some day, the smart EV will be more like a smart phone, a PC, a robot, or an internet terminal for transporting you by road and/or the sky to your destination. It should also be noted that on that day the sky will be blue and full of sunshine thanks to the greater use of electricity, leading to fewer fossil-fuel emissions.