Electric cars Blog

November 7th, 2008 by admin

Electric remote control cars use high capacity compact batteries to drive brushed or brushless motors via an electronic speed control. They run on small but powerful electric motors and rechargeable nickel metal hydride, nickel-cadmium, or lithium polymer cells. Electric batteries take a while to charge, but quick chargers can help save time. High-performance motors must be allowed to cool down after use, in order to avoid demagnetizing the permanent magnets. Electric cars might be electric Pontiac cars, electric Saab cars, electric Mitsubishi cars, electric Volvo cars, electric Volkswagen cars etc tend to be lighter than nitro models because they have fewer components in the drive system. They also have more consistent torque and faster throttle response than nitro vehicles.

Fuel-powered cars, also referred to as nitro cars, use glow plug engines. These are small internal combustion engines fueled by a special mix of nitromethane, methanol, and oil that is usually a blend of castor oil and synthetic oil. Nitro engines, like full-sized gas engines, take time to spool up and for the clutch to engage. Nitro remote control cars are completely air cooled, and may be run continuously without any breaks for cooling down. In addition, they may be refueled and returned to action in a few seconds, unlike electric models that need to have the body shell and battery fasteners removed to replace a discharged battery.

Gasoline-powered vehicles run on premixed oil and gasoline. These types of remote control cars are also called fuelies. They cost more than electric and nitro cars, and are much bigger, thus needing more space. Gas cars don’t usually have high top end speeds compared to the other models, but have plenty of power and don’t need a lot of fuel to run. Gas powered motors rarely require tuning and have a very long lifespan.

September 22nd, 2008 by admin

In an era of rising gas prices, the American public has seen a renewed surge of interest in the kinds of fuel economy that they get in their vehicles. People are trading out and selling the gas-guzzling trucks or SUVs of yester-year, and increasingly choosing cars based on gas mileage. This trend includes a definite increase in the number of hybrid and electric cars that are being bought and sold, as people begin to embrace new alternative energy possibilities. But what is an electric car, and how does it work?

A completely electric car is powered by either batteries that must be recharged at charging stations, or fuel cells. Fuel cells take in hydrogen gas and convert it into electricity. Often, electric cars can also run on (or at least be supplemented by) solar energy in the form of panels on their roofs or bodies.

This electricity source, whatever it might be, is used to power an electric motor. The motor is a coil of wire that can spin freely inside a casing of magnets. When electricity is fed into the wire, it makes a magnetic field that turns the coil very quickly. By fastening the spinning coil to an axle, the wheels are driven along. A modern electric car can get 250 miles or more on a single charge, more than sufficient for most day to day commuting purposes.