Almost anything that uses a motor or electricity to operate is built with magnets. That means cars also have them. In fact, magnets can be found in multiple places other than the motor in some cars. Unlike traditional automobiles, electric cars are powered by electricity rather than gas, so they have no tank. Instead, they have large batteries or fuel cells and “fueling up” is much like plugging into an outlet.
According to an analysis by the
Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW), there were over 400,000 electric powered cars on the road in early 2014. Each of those requires magnetism in order to work. When it comes to electric cars, magnets are essential. How are magnets used in electric cars?
Electric motors and magnets
Magnets are a primary component in electric motors. In order to work they need to be made of a coil of wire that can spin and is encircled by strong magnets. When an electric current is induced in the coil, it emits a magnetic field, opposing the magnetic field emitted by the strong magnets.
It follows the same attraction and repulsion rules of magnets. For instance, when you put the north and south poles of two separate bar magnets an invisible force will push them away from each other. The same concept occurs in motors, but they are modeled in a way that the repulsion is used to control an energy source.
This repulsion causes the coil to spin or rotate at a high speed. The coil is attached to an axle that allows the wheels to move. That is the basic model of an electric motor, but it can be more complex.
If you want to learn more about how electric motors work, it is important to also understand electromagnetism━the blending of electricity and magnetism. To learn more about electromagnetism and to build your own electromagnet, you can
check our blog on it here.
