Electric cars are eco-friendly, affordable, quiet and rewarding to drive. They combine environmental responsibility with practical and economic advantages.
It is not just a car; an electric car is a window onto the future. It represents an extraordinary opportunity to get a first-hand feel for the horizon of mobility. Private transport will not disappear in the years ahead; it will simply undergo a technical transformation, progressively abandoning fossil fuels and conventional powertrains to embrace battery propulsion and, in parallel, autonomous driving. A goal that is not too far off, especially considering that countries such as Germany, Norway and the Netherlands are exploring the possibility of restricting the circulation, by 2020/2025, of petrol- and diesel-powered cars, thereby encouraging a rapid transition towards electric vehicles.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) — the international energy agency established within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) — there are already 1.3 million electric vehicles on the road worldwide, and in 2015 sales grew by 70 per cent compared to the previous year. This trend is confirmed by Unrae, the association of foreign car manufacturers operating in Italy, according to which in October 2016 alone the segment recorded an increase of 54.3 per cent compared to the same period in 2015. A genuine boom to which manufacturers have contributed — including Hyundai, which has put forward futuristic, technologically advanced and practical models. The Korean brand recently unveiled the Ioniq, the world's first car with a truly green vocation, offered in three sustainable configurations: hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric.
Beyond an exponentially growing sales trend, the success of electric propulsion is demonstrated by the preference for battery-powered models among motorists in several European and non-European countries. Consider, for example, China, which in 2015 — again according to the IEA — was the world's largest market for low-emission vehicles, or California, where over 35 per cent of the entire vehicle fleet is electric, as certified by the California Center for Sustainable Energy, which monitors the uptake of sustainable technologies. Nor should we forget the Nordic countries, such as Norway, where government incentives, free charging at public stations, the proliferation of high-capacity charging points and tax relief have led more than 20 per cent of motorists looking to buy a new car to opt for an electric model. A boom shared by the Netherlands, where charging points — now numbering over 19,000 — and financial benefits are multiplying rapidly: for instance, free parking, unrestricted access to restricted traffic zones and toll exemptions. Electric mobility is already a tangible reality in many parts of the world.
Simply put, an electric car is nothing more than a vehicle equipped with an electric motor powered by energy stored in a "tank" consisting of one or more rechargeable batteries. From a technical standpoint, it is an extremely high-efficiency vehicle: the powertrain's output approaches 90 per cent, thanks in large part to the radical reduction in internal friction, whereas the latest-generation petrol or diesel engines barely reach 40 per cent. The state of the art today is represented by synchronous units, as in the case of the Hyundai Ioniq Electric saloon, which are characterised by two key components known as the stator and rotor. The electric current is transmitted to the permanent magnets in the rotor, which generate an electromagnetic field immersed in a similar field created by the three-phase stator. The rotor then begins to spin by induction, and since the system never allows the magnetic fields to align, a rotation is obtained — synchronised with the electrical frequency — which is transferred to the drive shaft and subsequently to the drive wheels. The modern era has also brought with it a number of refinements capable of optimising the efficiency of zero-emission powertrains; the aforementioned Ioniq, for example, features components whose thickness is reduced by 10 per cent compared to the standard, and rectangular cross-section copper cables that minimise energy dissipation, to the benefit of range and performance.
As fundamental as the motor is, the true "heart" of an electric car is its batteries. It is the battery packs that have the greatest influence on a vehicle's price, range and performance. At the end of the 1980s, zinc-air and nickel-cadmium batteries were widespread, though they suffered from a significant memory effect and, in the latter case, were sensitive to external temperatures. Subsequently, nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion cells were introduced, leading ultimately to the most efficient and modern solution: lithium-ion polymer technology. A technology reserved for the most sophisticated vehicles, which — taking the Hyundai Ioniq, one of the most recent and advanced saloons on the market, as a reference — drastically reduces the memory effect, greatly benefiting long-term durability, maximises charging/discharging capacity and speed, and delivers a high electrical output that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. The Ioniq Electric, for example, can rely on cells of as much as 28 kWh.
The introduction of lithium-polymer batteries has made it possible to eliminate the risk of fire in the event of cell damage, since the lithium-salt electrolyte is not contained in an organic solvent, as in the lithium-ion design, but is instead found in a solid polymer composite. This technical advance has dismantled one of the most widespread prejudices against electric cars, namely the rumour regarding their supposedly poor safety. But other prejudices persist… Sceptics accuse zero-emission vehicles of a limited range, of inconvenience in everyday use due to the alleged difficulty of locating charging points, as well as of less interior space than traditional models and a lack of driving fun. These are often unfounded opinions, although — more because of poor charging infrastructure than the cars themselves — electric vehicles today find their ideal habitat in large cities. Everything would be different, for example, if Italy were to follow the lead of other countries — the United Kingdom, for instance — in developing a network of rapid charging stations along motorways.
A modern battery-powered saloon such as the Hyundai Ioniq offers an average range of 280 km per charge. Not enough? For a concrete answer, it is enough to think about the commute of the vast majority of Italians, which rarely exceeds 50 kilometres a day. Even those who live outside urban areas seldom cover more than 150 km daily. 280 km therefore represents a range sufficient to meet most mobility needs. Especially considering that a modern electric car like the Ioniq can be charged to 80 per cent in just 24 minutes with a 100 kW rapid charging system, or conveniently in a home garage in 4.5 hours using a standard power socket. Taking into account the low cost of electricity compared to petrol and diesel, it is easy to appreciate the economic advantage of electric cars like the Hyundai Ioniq. To give an idea, a full battery charge costs an average of 1.5 euros (based on an average energy cost of 0.30 euros per kWh).
Affordability and sustainability are not the only positive aspects of an electric car; there are many benefits related to practicality. These range from unrestricted access to ZTL restricted traffic zones — such as Milan's Area C — to free parking on paid blue-line spaces, through to exemption from road tax for five years across the entire country (and for life in Lombardy and Piedmont). Once that period expires, moreover, the amount payable is reduced by 75 per cent compared to the standard rate. Furthermore, battery-powered vehicles can benefit from insurance discounts of up to 50 per cent, and maintenance is cheaper than for any model fitted with a combustion engine. Reliability is indeed one of the key strengths of electric vehicles, to the extent that Hyundai offers an 8-year or 200,000 km warranty on the batteries of the Ioniq Electric. A record. And for those worried about reduced load capacity due to the batteries, the Ioniq Electric is reassuring: the Korean saloon, thanks to the placement of the cells beneath the rear seats, offers a boot with a usable volume of between 350 and 1,410 litres. Figures in line with what a traditional car provides.
The electric car is eco-friendly, affordable, efficient and reliable. Admittedly, the issue of charging — especially away from home — remains. But there is no shortage of good news. By 2018, the national electricity authority expects more than 20,000 charging stations to be active in Italy, of which half will be on motorways and a large proportion will be ultra-rapid, meaning with a capacity equal to or greater than 50 kW. Refuelling stations are becoming increasingly easy to locate, as dedicated apps multiply and, in the case of hi-tech models like the Hyundai Ioniq, the on-board satellite navigation system monitors battery status and displays on the map the publicly accessible charging points reachable with 80 per cent of the available charge. What is more, with a modern electric vehicle like the Hyundai Ioniq, there is no need for any adapter even when travelling abroad, as the car is compatible with three-phase 400 V current, which is particularly widespread across Europe.
The Type 2 connector is the solution recommended by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (Acea) and identified by the European Commission as the single standard across member states, pending the uptake of wireless systems using induction plates. It is therefore the most practical and popular solution on the Old Continent. In any case, modern battery-powered cars such as the Ioniq Electric, for example, come with a cable fitted with a Schuko plug capable of charging the car from a standard domestic socket. Of course, in this case charging times are longer, given the modest power output available at home, which is why fitting a wall box — that is, a home charging station with a separate meter — remains the most practical choice.
