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Glossary on Green Car Part-III

Green is the new thing in. But can you really differentiate an EV from a hybrid? Struggling to figure the difference between a series hybrid and a parallel hybrid?

Believe us, you're not alone. With the green mantra being the new ‘in word’ in the automotive world, we're being inundated with an entirely new vocabulary. But one has to learn these new words in the coming years. Here is the third part of theGlossary on Green Car.

Lead-Acid Battery

Lead-acid battery is one of the most common types of battery. The technology involved in it combines lead plates and an acid, such as hydrochloric, to produce direct current. The interaction of the acid on the lead creates an electrical current. It is heavy, but relatively cheap and durable.

Lithium

Lithium is the central ingredient in two of the newer and more promising forms of batteries, lithium-ion and lithium-polymer. It is common in rechargeable portable devices such as MP3 players, laptop computers and cellphones. Lithium-based batteries store lots of current of high energy density and can both store and discharge quickly. But these batteries are also quite expensive, which limits their use in devices, such as hybrid and electric vehicles, which need extremely large battery packs.

Low-Sulfur Diesel

Sulfur is a part of petroleum, even when petroleum is called “sweet oil”. The chemical is largely responsible for the foul smell in traditional diesels, and it poisons or renders inactive, many of the most advanced pollution control devices. In order to clean up diesel exhaust by making possible the use of new technology, refiners are being required to sharply reduce sulfur content, from about 500 parts per million, to just 15 ppm.

M85

M85 is derived by mixing 85 per cent of methanol and 15 per cent of petrol. It was once considered a strong contender to replace or supplement petrol in the US and other developed countries. Research on M85 is still going on to make it a replacement for fossil fuel.

MTBE

Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether (MTBE) is a common fuel additive which oxygenates petrol, improving octane. MTBE has been used widely as a means to reduce emissions, but it is now being phased out because of the discovery that this potentially carcinogenic compound has seeped into groundwater.

Methanol

Methanol or methyl alcohol is an alcoholic fuel that has a number of advantages, including a boost in horsepower and a reduction in ozone-forming emissions. Methanol is frequently used in race cars, such as top-fuel dragsters and the Indy Racing League. But methyl alcohol has a number of disadvantages, as well. It burns invisibly, so it is difficult to see if there is a fire and it is extremely toxic.

Nickel-Cadmium

This is the first and the most popular form of rechargeable battery. The Nickel-Cadmium or NiCad has several disadvantages. For one thing, it uses an extremely toxic chemical, cadmium, which is especially difficult to dispose of. Moreover, NiCads tend to lose power over time, especially if they are improperly charged and discharged - the memory effect.

Nickel-Metal Hydride

This is an alternative to NiCad. Nickel-metal hydride is rapidly becoming the most popular rechargeable battery, both for consumer appliances, such as digital cameras and for hybrid-electric vehicles. The NiMH battery poses fewer environmental problems and doesn't have many of the drawbacks of NiCad cells.

Parallel Hybrid

Most hybrids use two sources of power in a parallel arrangement. In other words, the petrol engine and electric motor components are each directly connected to the vehicle's drivetrain, where they can operate independent of one another.

Plug-In Hybrid

Plug-in hybrid is a type of hybrid car that allows for extended use in electric-only mode. It can be thought of as an electric vehicle with an onboard engine. Here, unlike a pure EV, range is not limited by battery size. When the pack gets discharged, the vehicle can run on its petrol engine, recharging the batteries when power demand is low.

PZEV

A Partial-Zero-Emission Vehicle or PZEV may sound like an oxymoron, but it is a class of vehicles created by the Environmental Protection Agency to include some of the cleanest vehicles on the road. The current crop of PZEVs run about 90 per cent cleaner than the typical car on the road and produce effectively no evaporative emissions. The most important point is as a car of the 1970s, it could produce more hydrocarbon emissions while parked than a modern car would give off while driving across the country.

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